〈 Episode 324 〉 Turn over the board (2)
* * *
My vision was narrowed.
Suddenly, Raniel thinks something like this.
Since I was grasping the situation with a narrowed perspective, of course there was no way I could come up with a proper answer. What woke me up from my narrowed perspective was, strangely enough, a word from a princess outside the situation.
Turn the plate over.
Raniel walks while thinking about those words.
As he walks, Raniel grasps the situation with a wider perspective. He agonizes over what he should do. What is the essential problem in this situation?
The death of an elder?
Having to kill your benefactor with your own hands?
‘That’s not it.’
I wish for my own death.
Since he wants to die just being himself, Raniel will have to be willing to grant that request. There is no value judgment whatsoever in it.
All you have to do is perform it.
What complicates the situation is what goes on behind the scenes. Something to do with a child named Resty. The impact that will come upon a child who is just growing up. Worried about that, Raniel agonized and agonized.
But now that I think about it…
“I put the first button on wrong.”
I thought wrong from the beginning.
In the end, all of this is just Raniel’s own thoughts. He tried to think on his own terms and make arbitrary decisions without even asking the opinions of the parties involved. It’s funny when you think about it. He said he had been like that since when.
It’s deception.
Make your own judgment.
Ultimately, the regrets, responsibilities, and anything else that comes with it must be borne by oneself. It can never be represented by someone else.
widely.
Raniel stopped walking.
The place where she stopped was in front of the gray magic tower. For the past few days, she has been stopping by this tower to see the elder, but not today.
“Professor Rania?”
Raniel looks at Resty.
Looking straight at the girl who was looking away, she opened her mouth.
“Hello, Resty.”
Raniel laughed bitterly.
“I need to tell you something. “Is the time okay?”
The first madman wants the elder and those involved with him to agonize over the choices he made. No matter which one you choose, you will be enjoying yourself while looking at those suffering on the path of regret.
So Raniel makes a decision.
Let’s choose the job that a madman would hate the most.
Even if it is the cruelest path.
2.
Resty blinked.
This is because Rania’s expression when she came to see him was different from usual. The Rania that Resti knew was mysterious and sometimes mischievous… but she was never a person with a heavy aura.
A light person.
A person who seems to be longing to escape from something.
In a way, I felt like I resembled my old self, when I was not tied down to anything. Just like her younger self. However, looking at Rania standing in front of him now, Resti feels a great sense of discomfort.
heavy.
Sitting in front of me is not a professor who just turned 22 this year, but someone with more experience than him.
“Lesti.”
She called her name.
Resty nodded slowly.
“Before we talk, I’d like to ask you one question.”
She opened her mouth.
Slowly, but with weight.
“Was my advice helpful?”
This is a random statement.
There was so much advice that she gave, that Resty thought for a moment, but then he realized what she was talking about.
“Did you have any regrets?”
Make a choice you won’t regret.
That is one word that completely changed Resty’s life. Because of that one word, we exist now. Resty nodded without any hesitation.
“yes.”
Resty laughed.
“It was helpful. So much.”
It’s so hard to put into words.
The professor in front of me always gave me advice and helped me. Helps big and small made Resty’s path clearer.
“To me, a professor is like a teacher.”
“He’s a professor, so he’s a teacher, then.”
“Not a teacher in that sense…”
Resty smiled as if he was embarrassed.
“A teacher, like an elder, who I respect and want to serve. “Professor Rania is that kind of person to me.”
“Thank you for saying that. “I’m telling you that you think of me that way, Resty?”
Rania asked a question.
“From now on, I’m going to ask you a favor. Don’t ask me anything. “This will be my first and last request to you.”
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Rania has never asked for anything based on the favor she has bestowed on others. So, this was the first time.
“Will you listen?”
“If it’s something I can do…”
Resty nodded slowly.
Rania took a short breath and opened her mouth. So she begins to tell her story. That’s never a good story to hear.
It’s a bitter truth.
It doesn’t tell everything.
Rania broke into pieces what Resty had to swallow. So that you can swallow it several times. So that she can make her own choices.
“······.”
Lesti was silent after hearing the story.
She slowly raised her head and looked at Rania. Her eyes are shaking, but the voice that comes out of her parted lips does not waver.
“Is that all true?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“It means you have something to hide.”
Resty slowly closed his eyes.
He said with his eyes closed.
“Since you asked, I won’t ask. I believe there is a reason for hiding it. “You’ve always told me only helpful things, so I’ll trust you this time too.”
There is a relationship that has been built.
Resty wants to trust the words of his second teacher. It’s a story that’s hard to believe, but I’m willing to believe it because it’s Rania’s words.
“but.”
She opens her closed eyes.
There is no wavering in those eyes.
Resty looked at Rania with red, bloodshot eyes. She looks like she’s about to burst into tears at any moment, but the girl never sheds tears.
“Can I make the choice?”
Rania nodded.
“That’s what I told you.”
Resty stood up.
Rania looked at her back for a while, then stood up. No matter what she chooses, she doesn’t change what she does.
“Lesti.”
Rania opened her mouth.
Resty looked back. To her, who was biting her lip, Rania only said one word.
“Make a choice you won’t regret.”
Those were words I once said to her.
* * *
Cranbel’s consciousness is unclear.
Several times a day, I fall asleep and suddenly wake up. It’s the same this time too. Cranbell struggled to raise her upper body and leaned against the bed.
‘How long did you sleep?’
I couldn’t figure it out.
In his hazy consciousness, the elder looked next to him.
There is a chair there. Resty Eleanor was sitting in the chair.
“Lesti? “How long have you been here?”
“···A little while ago.”
The voice is locked.
You can’t see his face because he has his head down, but his shoulders are slumped. Cranbel called out to Lesty in a soft voice.
“What happened?”
“······.”
“Tell me. “What happened…?”
“I heard it from Professor Rania.”
The elder’s body trembled.
“···what?”
“I heard that in a month, the time given to the elder will end.”
Resty raised his head.
The corners of her eyes are stained red.
“The time given is over. Life ends. “The elder has only one month left…”
Resty took a deep breath.
“The elder said that even after its lifespan is over, it will still be alive in a different form. “He will live while retaining his body as is and become something else.”
While the elder was out of breath, Resti continued speaking.
“But the elder doesn’t want that.”
therefore.
“You are hoping for a proper death…”
Is it true?
There is no need to ask that.
Because the elder’s expression already tells the answer.
“It’s all true.”
“I’m sorry, Resty.”
“I want to ask you why you hid it from me, why you only have a month left, why it’s like that… I really want to ask you, but I won’t.”
Because I said I shouldn’t ask.
Because I said you would find out when the time comes.
Resty opened his mouth, swallowing his tears.
“So, you said you asked for it?”
The elder asked someone else to kill him. The person who received the request was Raniel Van Trias, the former and next lord of the Gray Magic Tower. Rania said that to Resty.
“The gray wizard will carry out the elder’s request.”
“But, if you wish.”
“You can leave that role behind.”
Take your pick.
Should he pass on the elder’s last request to someone else, or should he settle it with his own hands? It is Resty himself who makes the choice.
“······.”
Resty is silent for a moment.
After wiping his eyes with his sleeve, Resty spoke to the elder in a determined voice.
“There’s no need for that.”
Resty looked straight at the elder.
“If the elder has one last wish, I think I should be the one to grant it.”
I want to tie the knot myself.
I think only then I won’t regret it.
“······.”
In front of Resty looking at him like that, the elder stops breathing. Resty, whom the elder was worried about and worried about, is not there.
The person standing in front of him now is not the young and immature Resty that the elder remembers.
The girl who is looking at herself with a determined expression is already a full-fledged wizard. He is not a child who needs to be protected, but a complete human being.
“aha.”
The elder laughed.
“This is so…”
Come to think of it, did you say that four years have passed since you fell asleep? 4 years. It may be a short time, but it is enough time for one child to become an adult.
“You’ve grown well, Resty.”
The elder let out a faint laugh.
The old man raised his arms. Fingers as bony as dry twigs stroke Resty’s head. Resty lowered his head and bit his lip.
“I am···.”
“Okay. “No need to say more.”
said the elder.
“I thought you were a child, but you are already an adult. “Time flies.”
My time stopped 4 years ago.
For this child, time continues to pass.
Parents smile as they look at their grown children.
“Yes, Resty.”
My father laughed.
“I want you to make a choice you won’t regret.”
3.
A few days later, Rania faced Resty, who came to visit her. The girl who sang that she has been happy with each day since the elder opened his eyes is not there.
The one there is a wizard.
“I’ve decided.”
Resty said, looking at Rania.
“So, please let me know.”
Rania said that day.
If you decide to fulfill the elder’s wish with your own hands, I will tell you how. I will teach you how to cut off existence from life.
“Please tell me how.”
Rania nods.
Something that has been postponed and postponed for some time.
Watcher, one who reads context.
Rania senses that the time has come to fully develop that talent.
Time passes.
One month will be longer than ever before.
* * *
“······.”
Cranbel looked down with hazy eyes.
Blood flowing from the mouth, nose, and eyes.
Dark red blood drips down.
‘There’s still time left.’
There may be ten days left, but Cranbel feels that death is approaching every moment. I sense that my body is being eaten by the shadow. However, for some reason, Cranbel’s consciousness does not become blurred.
Rather, it becomes clearer.
Cranbel feels fear at that fact.
‘why?’
Eaten by the shadow.
A madman takes over my body.
If that happens, Cranbel predicted that his consciousness would be completely blown away and he would face complete death. However, that is Krembel’s illusion.
The shadow does not steal the body.
It does not take away Kranbel’s consciousness.
It’s just assimilation.
Cranbel feels that his values are changing.
Long-held beliefs are shaken. Even though my consciousness remains clear, its foundation is shaking. Cranbel feels that his sanity is slowly falling into madness. It is a terrible fear.
Memories are mixed up.
Personalities, values, and foundations are mixed.
Falling into madness while maintaining one’s ego is a horror beyond what Krembel imagined. Cran Bell stretched out his hand and touched the corner of his mouth. Although blood is flowing, the corners of my mouth are drawn into lines.
Laughter echoes in my ears.
The echoing sound of laughter is familiar.
Cranbell slowly raised his head and looked at the window. She saw herself smiling in the reflection of the window. The strangely twisted corners of the mouth do not belong to a sane human being.
It belonged to a madman.
Madness whispered in Cranbel’s ear.
Fulfill your duty as a prophet.
* * *
fantasy,
