〈 Episode 335 〉 Given time (4)
* * *
“…Are you really going to do that?”
“You have to do that.”
“other ways.”
“doesn’t exist.”
“I’m sure.”
“I can only be sure. I ended up here after wandering around looking for another way. There must be no further delay. “Because I don’t have time in the first place.”
“···is it.”
“I think I know how you feel now, Cardi. There is no such thing as best. There is only lesser evil everywhere. At least in this case, yes.”
“It has become more realistic.”
“That’s how things change after experiencing failure.”
······.
···.
······.
“Is that what happened in the end?”
“huh. “This is my last chance.”
“···Cooperate.”
“thank you. always.”
“It is I who should be thankful. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.”
“Do not be sorry. “I don’t know about you, but I received a lot of help from you.”
“Is that possible…”
“Oh no, it’s about time. Then I’ll go. “There are still places I need to stop by.”
“for a moment.”
She looked back.
Cardi opened his mouth, looking at her.
“Can I ask one last question?”
Cardi asked.
“What did the ancient dragon do?”
The answer came right away.
“I killed it.”
she laughed
“It was annoying.”
It was the laughter of a broken person.
* * *
Every day is hard.
With the auditory hallucination of ticking, Rania felt the passage of time. Helplessly and meaninglessly. As time passed, Rania’s eyes became cloudy.
Blue eyes are losing their shine.
The temptation of betrayal, which rang in Rania’s ears every night, now echoed in Rania’s ears all day and night.
Give up. Wouldn’t it be easier to give up?
Rania never chooses the path of betrayal and sticks to being human until the end… but Rania’s eyes become blurry as the whispers continue.
Isn’t it difficult?
Is there a need to endure this much?
It’s hard on your body, and it’s hard to get through the day. Wouldn’t it be better to just let it go? You can do that.
you.
No, I can do that.
You’ve suffered enough. Enough feats have been accomplished.
As I am already retired, I have the right to live a different life. No one will blame me for whatever I choose.
‘···No one blames me.’
I’ve done enough.
‘I am···.’
The whispers echoing in her ears made Rania delirious. Rania’s eyes became cloudy. With her eyes open, in her dreamy daze… Rania barely managed to hold on to her senses.
What comes to mind is Galahal.
There are countless people who sacrificed their lives for him.
Rania has no intention of letting go of the burden they entrusted to her until the very end.
‘The path I have walked.’
You must not deny the path you have walked.
Until the last moment, you must remain human. Many people have risked their lives by trusting in the ‘human’ Raniel Van Trias. Rania reassures herself that she can’t do it in vain.
Suppressing the seeds of evil.
Resist the temptation to defect.
I endure each day with a broken body.
However, no matter how great Rania’s mental power is, she cannot do such things indefinitely. No matter how strong the wall is, it will eventually collapse, and there is no limit to the flow of time. Rania is falling apart little by little.
He is going crazy.
Rania realizes that fact.
Tick, tick.
The sound of the second hand ringing in my ears grew louder.
Tick.
It was a day when time continued to pass like that. Something caught Rania’s gaze. It is stationery. Correspondence linked to Kyle Torben. Rania grabbed the letter that was lying on the shelf.
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“······.”
Rania lowered her head and looked down at the hand holding the letter. Her gray, dull hair fell over her letterhead. Kyle Torben. The person who made Rania decide on her life as a wise woman.
There has been no letter from him yet.
Still, no news.
Rania feels complicated emotions about that fact.
‘···no.’
I’m rather glad.
Rania decided to think so.
Anyway, Rania is also not informing Kyle of her condition. Rania feels fortunate that she hasn’t had any contact from Kyle. Because I don’t want to show him like this.
Rather, I said.
Rania thought.
I wish Kyle wouldn’t come to see me until the day I die. Instead of remembering her shabby, miserable, and unsightly end, she wishes that people would remember her brilliant self.
“······.”
Rania looked at the letter.
I looked and looked again.
As I look at the empty letterhead, what comes to mind is the promise I shared with Kyle. Rania slowly reached out her hand and opened her drawer. Her drawer contains a pendant.
Well done.
A pendant found in my hometown that had been reduced to ashes.
In front of the pendant, Kyle vowed to never forget the tragedy that occurred in his hometown.
“I will catch the devil.”
“You and I, we are taking revenge together.”
A promise we shared as a joke.
A promise that was ultimately not kept.
Thinking of that promise, Rania played with the pendant. Her white fingers wiped the dust off the pendant.
“If I die…”
What if I die miserably?
Maybe Kyle will be able to keep that promise on his own. After the reunion with the Sword of Death, something changed in Kyle. If Kyle has changed, perhaps he will try to keep that promise again.
then.
Didn’t he leave something behind when he died?
‘That’s nonsense.’
Rania feels disgusted at herself for even thinking like that for a moment. Rania put down her pendant, blaming herself and wondering how ugly she would become before her death.
“I’m crazy.”
That was the moment when Rania was about to put away the letter while muttering that. Something flashed. Not the letter Rania was holding, but a different letter.
“I have something to say.”
『I will go there.』
It was a letter that arrived from Cardi.
2.
Cardi, an ancient elf.
Cardi van Armiel.
Having lived as a great sage, he always tried to find the best answer. Not a lesser evil to avoid the worst, not an answer that one reluctantly accepts… but the best answer that anyone can understand.
Cardi longed for the answer.
It has been that way for hundreds of years, and it continues to be that way even now. I just long for it. He dreams of places he cannot reach.
“There is no best ending.”
“At least in this case, yes.”
“So, I guess I should choose the lesser evil.”
Cardi ponders the words she left behind when she came to visit him. Cardi bit her lip, remembering how she had suddenly come to have the same expression as her own.
“···Phew.”
Still, I do what I have to do.
Cardi took a short breath as she made a promise and adjusted her robe. Now, Cardi is standing in front of the gate of the mansion, looking exactly the same as when he built the Gray Magic Tower in this country.
Robe of the first Mage Tower Lord.
The appearance he disguised himself at the time.
In that guise, Cardi knocks on the door of the mansion. Before long, the door opened and Roselle came out. He was Rossel, who had heard from Raniel that a guest would be visiting… but he had not heard details about the guest.
As a result, Rosell’s eyes widened the moment he saw the person standing in front of the door.
“···you are?”
“I came to see a junior from afar.”
The first gray magic tower lord.
In front of that mysterious and secret being, Roselle does not know how to react. Cardi briefly waved her hand to indicate that there was no need to do so and walked inside her mansion.
Before heading towards Raniel’s room, Cardi stopped for a moment. She turned her head and looked at Roselle.
“···It would be polite to speak to you.”
They must be like that child’s parents.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
Cardi spoke separately with Rosell.
The conversation wasn’t long.
Roselle’s eyes narrowed as he listened to the end of the story. It was a difficult story to accept, and it was also a proposal that could not be easily accepted. This is the moment when Roselle tries to raise her voice.
but.
“Please.”
Seeing Cardi lowering her head towards her, Roselle had no choice but to keep her mouth shut. A distant senior, the great first Mage Tower lord, is bowing his head to him and asking for a favor.
“It’s the only way.”
It is not a voice mixed with lies.
Roselle pressed her forehead.
“For that child…”
“I won’t tell you.”
“why?”
“They said I couldn’t do that.”
Cardi said, looking at the tightly closed door.
“It’s going to be a cruel story, but let’s get along.”
* * *
“······.”
Cardi opened the door and saw Rania.
Rania slowly turned her head.
The moment Cardi catches sight of Rania, who has lost her vitality and is weakened, her gaze wavers. This is because he remembered the final moment he had to face.
“I will trust you, Armiel.”
The image of Gleria keeps coming to mind.
Cardi gritted her teeth as she thought about the promise she couldn’t keep in the end. Now is not the time to think about it. Cardi slowly caught her breath.
“Raniel.”
“huh.”
Rania looked at Cardi.
The fact that that face looks more unfamiliar today may not be due to my mood alone. Cardi opened her mouth, facing her dreamy eyes.
“···I’m here to help with a few things.”
“help?”
“Your condition looks very bad.”
Cardi sat next to Rania.
He placed all the test tubes he had taken out of his robe one by one on the shelf.
“Don’t lean back, try lying down properly.”
“···Is it because it’s hard to get up again when you lie down, so you’re sitting down? why?”
“You can’t sleep sitting down, right?”
Cardi forcibly removed the pillow she had placed between her back and the bed. And then he half-forced Rania to lie down on the bed. So that you can rest properly.
“···Why are you doing this?”
Cardi waved the reagent in front of Rania.
“I can’t do anything about your soul, but I can help heal your body. “Wouldn’t it be better if you could at least move your body?”
“…Can you fix it? “I told you a while ago that there was no way.”
“As I was doing it, it came out.”
Rania blinked.
The eyes still seemed to be wandering in a dream, but I could feel a subtle sense of anticipation in them. Rania’s lips drew a small line.
“···Really?”
A thin voice.
Cardi’s hand, which was shaking the reagent, flinched at that question and stopped. This is a change that a normal Rania would notice, but the current Rania does not notice the change. Cardi let out a short breath and shook the reagent again.
“…I don’t lie.”
Rania laughed.
“Cardi.”
“Say it.”
“Should I really learn alchemy?”
“Stop talking nonsense and close your eyes. “If you sleep well and wake up, you’ll feel better.”
Cardi shook the reagent thoroughly and uncapped it.
Putting it on Rania’s bedside, Cardi opened the caps of the remaining test tubes one by one and placed them next to Rania.
Shhh…
A thick, odorless fog-like smoke filled the room. Rania closed her eyes and her breathing stabilized, and soon only a faint, colorful sound of breathing was heard.
“Whoa…”
After seeing her sleeping, Cardi let out a long breath. Of course, everything she said to Rania just now was a lie.
Smoke fills the room.
This is not a medicine that will improve your physical condition. It is just a sleeping scent that helps the sick person to rest comfortably and fall asleep. It’s also the most toxic.
‘···I didn’t know I would use this like this.’
There was a time when I soaked myself in the scent of sleep to meet an old colleague, even if only in a dream. Every time Cardi got used to the sleeping scent, she developed a stronger scent. The current sleeping scent was also created at that time. Cardi himself knows very well how great the effect is.
So Rania won’t wake up for a while.
And, when she opened her eyes again…
Everything will be over.
3.
It’s late at night.
Starlight leaked into the room.
The sleeping scent was absorbed into Rania’s body over a sufficient period of time. Cardi looked out the window. In the streaming starlight, Cardi read the sign of his contract.
It’s time.
Cardi thought so and opened the window.
I opened the door and opened the door to the mansion.
Roselle just sits on the sofa without saying anything. How much time has passed like that? Someone suddenly appeared in front of the open door. Without even a trace.
···The movement of a superman is inherently like that.
If you want, you are a superman who can infiltrate anywhere without being noticed by anyone.
“Are you here?”
Towards the superhuman standing in front of the door.
Cardi opened her mouth towards the human who had reached the same level as her former colleague.
“It’s been a while, Kyle Torben.”
Champion, Kyle Torben.
He faced Cardi with narrowed eyes.
* * *
fantasy,
