The letter left by Marisbury?
Naoki recalls that before he lost consciousness, he sensed movement in the Mount Enzō area. If nothing went wrong, Marisbury and Solomon should have already fulfilled their wishes through the Holy Grail.
Taking the letter, Naoki opens it and pulls out the paper inside. After quickly reading it, he sets it down.
The contents of the letter aren't particularly remarkable—just Marisbury's expressions of gratitude to Naoki. In the letter, Marisbury conveys his sincere thanks for Naoki entrusting the Holy Grail to him for its use.
Additionally, the letter explains an invitation for Naoki to work at Chaldea.
Although the Holy Grail did fulfill Marisbury's wish, the full establishment of Chaldea still requires time. They also need to recruit personnel. As such, Naoki might not start working at Chaldea for another year or two. Someone will inform him later.
The rest is just minor details.
"Chaldea in a year or two? That's about what I expected… By the way, Rei, when this letter was sent, was it just Marisbury?"
"No, the letter was sent through a familiar. No one came in person."
"If you want to know about that King's condition after fulfilling his wish, I can answer." Merry interrupts with a laugh. "You're curious, right? About how the Magecraft King… Solomon is doing now after his wish was granted."
Among the various matters mentioned in the letter, there's nothing about Solomon. Whether Marisbury deliberately hid it or not, the letter only discusses his own affairs, with no mention of Solomon's.
Solomon's wish was to become human—not just to gain a physical body, but to relinquish everything and reincarnate as an ordinary person. That wish must have been fulfilled by now.
So, how is Romani Archaman, as Naoki knows him now, doing after Solomon's reincarnation? He's a bit curious.
"Wait a moment, I'll call him."
"Call him? How?"
"With a phone." Merry says as she makes a call. "Hello, excuse me, is this ×× shop? I'd like to place the usual order, with the request for Romani-san to deliver it, thank you—Alright, just wait for him to arrive."
"…"
Alright, Naoki has a rough idea of how Roman is doing now.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
A few dozen minutes later.
In the living room.
Seeing Naoki and Artoria sitting on the sofa, the orange-haired man with a ponytail, placing a bag of delivered food on the table, immediately understands the meaning behind this delivery: "I knew it. No wonder you always request me to deliver. So this is what you were up to, Merlin."
"It's Merry, don't lump me in with the people here." Merry laughs. "Come on, King, let me introduce you. This young man working as a delivery guy at the convenience store, with a face that looks easy to bully, is the reincarnation of King Solomon as a human—Romani Archaman."
"The 'easy to bully' face description is a bit much."
Sitting across from Naoki, Roman takes a few deep breaths: "Phew… Let's reintroduce ourselves. I'm Romani Archaman, just call me Roman, Holy Sword User. You're finally awake. If you kept sleeping, the pressure on my shoulders would've been too much."
"Pressure… When you say that, does it mean you saw it? When you relinquished Solomon's power, your Clairvoyance saw it at the last moment, didn't it?"
"Yes."
The Incineration of Humanity—the future Naoki mentioned, previously unobservable, was clearly seen by Solomon at the moment he gave up his power and was about to reincarnate as a human. He saw a future where the Earth burned red.
Having just reincarnated as a human, Roman, who hadn't even had a moment to feel joy, was immediately weighed down by that despairing future. He wanted to prevent it, but having relinquished all his power, he had no idea how. He wanted to ask Naoki for help, but when he came looking, Naoki was unconscious.
Honestly, he'd been feeling like he was going to break. Struggling to make a living with part-time jobs while desperately studying various knowledge to prepare for the crisis of Humanity's Incineration…
If he were still Solomon, he might have been able to bear such pressure, but now he's just an ordinary person without even a magic circuit. The immense pressure made him barely dare to rest.
Looking at his furrowed brows, Naoki reaches out, pats his shoulder, and smooths his wrinkled forehead with his finger: "Alright, relax, Roman. We have plenty of time. Though I was delayed a bit by some things, from now on, I can share some of the pressure on your shoulders."
"As per our agreement before, no matter the outcome of this Holy Grail War, we'll work together to prevent the Incineration of Humanity—so relax, don't put too much weight on yourself. Why should a little baby, barely half a month old, carry such a heavy burden?"
"L-little baby?"
Roman knows Naoki is trying to comfort him, but the unexpected nickname catches him off guard. Though, technically speaking, he is a newborn, that's true.
Still, being called that by the Holy Sword User, who even Solomon couldn't fully defeat, truly makes Roman, who's been constantly anxious, feel a sense of relief. And as he relaxes, his body goes limp uncontrollably.
"Hey, Roman, you okay?"
"I'm fine… Just suddenly relaxed, and all my energy drained out. Sorry…" Roman rubs his head awkwardly. "In short, thank you, Holy Sword User. I'm really relieved you're willing to help. Going forward, I'll keep troubling you."
"Just call me Natsukawa or Naoki, like I call you Roman—oh, hold out your hand."
As if suddenly remembering something, Naoki grabs Roman's hand, swiftly pulls off the ring on his finger, and tosses it to Rei: "Rei, keep this safe and never take it out."
"Understood."
"W-wait a second! Natsukawa, what are you doing? Give me back my ring!"
"No, it's confiscated." Naoki refuses flatly. "This is a precaution to make sure you don't get any dangerous ideas, like using Ars Nova on yourself. Rei will hold onto the ring."
"You can never say goodbye to this world, Roman… Doctor."