I kissed Sara-san for the first time. Or rather, it was the first time in my life that I had ever kissed a woman. I never knew that a kiss could make me feel this happy.

Holding her in my arms once again, I realized something—she was still so young. I couldn’t just suddenly take her to my world.

After our kiss, I handed her a magical communication device created by the Great Mage, one that I had used before, so that she could contact Ande. I had already asked Ande to help her if anything happened. I also gave the same magical device to Lilith-san and the others, asking them all to contact Ande in case of an emergency.

Not only was I entrusting Ande with fixing the portal that connected our worlds, but I was also relying on him to look after everyone. I truly owed him a lot. Along with the communication device, I gave Sara-san some money from this world and a number of magical tools crafted by the Great Mage to help protect her.

I highly doubted that the first prince or the second prince of this country would still be after Sara-san’s life, but this was an unpredictable world. It was always better to be cautious.

I also gave her the dragon materials, food supplies, and everything else I had stored using spatial magic. As for Lilith-san and the others, I handed them several powerful weapons crafted by the Great Mage. The remains of the natural disaster beast were too massive to store or make use of, so I planned to leave them with Ande.

I bid farewell to the people who had taken care of me in this world. Just in case the portal between our worlds was permanently sealed, I made all the necessary preparations.

Several days had passed, and the remaining magic within the damaged barrier spell inside the Great Mage’s house was running low. Today, I would finally use the inheritance magic to pass on the Great Mage’s power, which I had inherited, to Ande.

Once that happened, I wouldn’t be able to return to this world until the portal was repaired. We had no idea when it might close.

“Masayoshi, I’ll ask one last time—are you really okay with this?”

“Yeah, like I said before, I never had any real power of my own. This is just returning things to how they were. More than that, I feel bad about leaving everything to you.”

“Hmph. That’s not something you need to concern yourself with. I am doing this because I want to. Besides, I owe you for sparing my life in our duel and for passing on the master’s power to me. I’m not foolish enough to repay that debt with betrayal.”

“I really appreciate that, but don’t push yourself too hard, okay? No matter how long I live, I’ve only got about sixty years left at most. If you ever feel like it’s impossible, don’t hesitate to give up. I won’t hold it against you.”

No matter how long Ande, a High Elf, could live, I couldn’t ask him to spend decades or even centuries repairing the portal. To begin with, I wouldn’t even live that long.

“That is for me to decide.”

“Well, I’ll leave it to you. If you can use the inheritance magic to gain the ability to open portals to other worlds, then you might be able to fix it right away. Alright, let’s begin.”

“Before that, I need to ask—what’s with your outfit?”

“I used to be really overweight. If I inherit back my original body, I’ll return to my old size.”

That’s right. I used to be quite fat. If I lost the body-maintenance skill I had inherited from the Great Mage, I would go right back to my former self. If I had worn my usual clothes, they would have burst apart like something out of a manga. That’s why I dug out my old, larger clothes and put them on.

To Ande, I must have looked ridiculous in these baggy clothes, wondering what the hell I was doing. I could have just deactivated the body-maintenance skill before using the inheritance magic, but… I wanted to stay in this slimmer form for as long as I could.

That being said, now that I knew what I looked like when I was thin, I had the confidence to lose weight again! It would be tough to convince my mom that I had rebounded, but I was determined to get back to this shape soon.

“Alright, Ande. I’m counting on you.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll fix that portal in no time.”

Yeah. Ande was a true genius, someone who surpassed the Great Mage’s power through his own efforts. I believed that he would repair the portal and reconnect our worlds.

“Here goes—Inheritance Magic, activate!”

‘Inheritance Magic has been activated. Transferring all abilities of Tachihara Masayoshi to the designated target.’

Just like when I first inherited the Great Mage’s power, an enigmatic voice echoed in my head. Most likely, Ande was hearing the same mysterious voice.

And then, in the next instant, I felt a sudden and overwhelming loss of power.