〈 Episode 336 〉 Given time (5)
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The stars illuminate the mansion.
The elf’s faded silver hair sparkled under the shining light. Kyle saw the elf standing in front of him. She looks no different from what she remembers. Although she herself had changed over the past ten years, this elf had not changed one bit.
‘···As expected, it’s different from Remia.’
A mysterious, like symbol of immutability.
Although he didn’t feel any mystery in his companions, Kyle even felt a kind of divinity in the elf in front of him. Especially since she knows its identity.
“okay.”
Kyle slowly opened his mouth.
“A long time. Cardi.”
“You know my name. “I’d like to think I found out when I met him in my home country…”
“Great Sage, Cardi Van Armiel.”
“I don’t think so either.”
Cardi muttered and laughed bitterly.
“Did you remember everything?”
“It just so happened.”
“How much do you know?”
“entire.”
Cardi’s memories contained in a crystal ball.
Kyle saw it all. Cardi’s identity, the journey he took, etc… There are blank spaces here and there, but most of the content is known.
“When the contract with the star faded, all my memories came back. Since I became a superhuman, I no longer lost my memories.”
“It’s a coincidence.”
“It was a coincidence of coincidences.”
Kyle let out a chuckle.
Kyle, whose emotions returned, no longer hid his smile. She laughed lightly and Kyle muttered.
“If you think about it, it all started then. “My dream of becoming a hero, and the ending of signing this contract… that was the starting point.”
Kyle looked at Cardi.
“Even if the memories are erased, even if you forget everything, they probably still remain subconsciously.”
Kyle said, looking at the ancient great sage.
“What is the contract made by the great sage, and what is the sword that cuts down demons?”
“···It seemed like that.”
Cardi let out a short breath.
When Cardi met Kyle in his home country of Arcadia, he instinctively realized this. The contract Kyle made with Star was essentially the same as the one he made himself.
‘Not yourself…’
A contract made for another person.
A contract that provides for an ‘ordeal’ that must be imposed on another person. It was that kind of deal that Cardi and Kyle made.
“Are you going to fulfill your contract from now on?”
“I guess so.”
Kyle nodded.
Kyle doesn’t wonder why Cardi is waiting for him here. In any case, this contract is a copy of Cardi’s contract.
So, Cardi would know.
What are you going to do from now on?
So Kyle could only vaguely think that maybe he was waiting for him here.
“What about Raniel?”
“I put it to sleep.”
It will make things easier.
Kyle took a step forward. Instead of blocking the move, Cardi took a step to the side.
“It doesn’t stop me.”
“Will it be stopped if I block it?”
Cardi laughed bitterly.
Kyle passed by him. After bowing his head to Roselle, who was sitting on the sofa looking at him in silence, Kyle stood in front of the open door.
Beyond that, Raniel is sleeping.
Before entering the room, Kyle looked back.
Looking at Cardi, who was standing aside, Kyle slowly, very slowly opened his mouth.
“Cardi, you know what I’m going to do from now on.”
“Of course, I know.”
“Then can I ask you something?”
“I can answer… No, I can answer everything to you. “Ask as many questions as you want.”
Kyle took a breath.
He said, smoothing the hilt of his sword.
“···Does it seem possible?”
A question without a subject.
Cardi, who read the meaning of the sentence in context, let out a short breath and answered.
“You already know the answer, right?”
Exhaling slowly.
As a companion of the first hero.
And as a great sage who had made the same contract earlier, Cardi gave advice to his distant junior.
“Don’t believe anything.”
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If you have anything to believe in.
“The only thing you can trust is yourself.”
It will only be you.
“Believe in yourself and do what you think is right. Because that will be the right answer.”
After saying that.
Cardi bowed her head towards Kyle.
“sorry.”
“······.”
“I made you choose this path, and because I couldn’t find the answer, I ended up passing the burden on to you…”
I am so sorry.
When Cardi said that, Kyle just slowly shook his head.
“As a warrior, as a hero… I don’t stand in front with such grandiose feelings.”
Kyle laughed.
“I’m just trying to pay off my debt.”
Because that damn guy’s personality, who can’t live with debt, has been transferred. This is something Kyle does because he wants to. He deserves no apology or thanks from anyone.
widely.
Kyle entered the room.
Immediately after, a gust of wind blew. After the wind blew, there was no one left in the room.
Just stars.
Only the softly shining stars remain.
2.
Magyeong (？？).
The range of the magic zone that divides the front line is not constant. When humanity’s front lines expand, those boundaries also tend to retreat.
Advance and retreat.
Zoom in and out.
There are countless lands that were once the land of mankind and then the land of the devil… but there are certainly lands that are not like that. Examples are mainly lands that have been swept away by disaster.
Galatric, the tomb of the sword visited by death.
Artia, a city of filth defiled by apostates.
Catena, a storm-swept sand hell.
and.
Arcadia, the kingdom of ash, the source of all disasters.
These lands are never purified.
It remained a devil’s land for hundreds of years, and no one dared to go there.
“If you think about it, it’s not much.”
Sarah rested her chin and opened her mouth in the shaking carriage.
“Aside from the fact that it is a place struck by disaster, there are only a handful of places the devil is known to have visited, right?”
She spread her hands wide.
“Out of hundreds of years of history, it is within these five fingers…”
Sarah let out a laugh.
“It’s a laughable story that those five are all from their own countries. Well, if ‘something like that’ decided to destroy something… what wouldn’t it be able to destroy?”
It still comes to me like a nightmare when I fall asleep.
Sarah shuddered as she recalled the waves of the old water she had seen back then. Kyle smiled bitterly as he watched Sarah shaking her shoulder.
“Are you afraid?”
“Of course I’m scared. “I’m scared to death.”
“then···.”
“If you’re going to tell me to go back, don’t tell me.”
Sarah said clearly.
“The decision has already been made, and I clearly said that I would follow through.”
“···thanks.”
“I’ll tell you after everything is over.”
Sarah sighed and looked at Kyle.
Kyle no longer hides his emotions. When I look at Kyle, whose thoughts are clearly visible on his face, I am reminded of the starting point of a long ago journey.
Himself, who had treated Kyle so cruelly.
Kyle came willingly to save him.
It only takes a moment for a person to fall in love with another person.
A moment’s emotion, a moment’s mistake can ruin a person’s life. In that sense, Sarah’s life was ruined in a very beautiful way thanks to Kyle.
‘I even betrayed the god I worshiped.’
Try doing bad things too.
‘I’ve done everything the old people in the church told me not to do. I really enjoyed it to my heart’s content.’
I tried everything I was told not to do.
So, Sarah is somewhat satisfied with this short life. Still, if there is just one thing I regret…
‘I guess it means I couldn’t be like a saint in a fairy tale.’
A saint in a heroic tale.
The most beautiful and noble woman in the world, who achieves great feats with heroes. She didn’t really want to be that shining being, but she had dreamed of it at least once.
You’ll just be tired.
Sarah mumbled and turned her head.
A person sitting next to you.
Sarah sighed as she glanced at the person who had lived a tiring life, like a hero in a fairy tale.
“Anyway.”
Raniel van Trias.
She, who is asleep next to Sarah, does not wake up even in this shaking carriage. Her eyes are closed and she is just sleeping, breathing softly. Sarah placed a hand on her forehead.
It is not difficult to gauge her physical condition.
It’s so damaged that it’s like a corpse.
When Sarah first heard of Kyle’s plan, she hated Raniel, but after seeing him in this state, those thoughts faded away.
‘Anyway…’
Because he owes his life to Raniel, he also owes it to him. Sarah sighed and took his hand away.
“We’re almost there.”
The scenery passes by in an instant.
The church’s carriage (??), which is driven by divine power without a driver, is already getting closer to its destination. The passing scenery becomes constant at some point.
A forest that has lost its color.
The carriage running along the rough path through the forest suddenly stopped. The place where the carriage stops is an old church. A church whose size is comparable to that of churches located in the sacred sites of the Delohim Church.
The church in the forest that has lost its color also appears to have lost its color. Leaving Kyle behind as he opened the door to the gray church, Sarah looked around.
A colorless forest.
Although it is hidden by the thick trees, Sarah knows what lies beyond this forest. Beyond is the ruins of a long-lost kingdom.
Selef Kingdom.
600 years ago, a kingdom was destroyed overnight. Even though the site of this old kingdom is located in the center of the demon world, not a single common demon beast can be found nearby, let alone the demon lord’s army.
‘···Of course it is.’
Because it was the Demon King who brought down the Selef Kingdom.
No life can conceive in the place where the devil has swept away. It becomes a land where starlight cannot reach. A land polluted forever. A land rejected by the stars.
A place where only black grass grows.
Magyeong (？？).
The true meaning of the devil is out there.
However, the land beyond the forest is a place that cannot be expressed as a simple ‘magical landscape’ for Sarah and Kyle. To them, that place is like a symbol of failure.
“···Kyle.”
“okay.”
“long time no see.”
“Yes, it’s been 4 years.”
Kyle smoothed the hilt of his sword.
“You’re back again.”
The site of the Selef Kingdom.
A place where black grass grew and became a field.
A place that people call the black field.
Four years ago, here they faced the devil.
3.
A church that has lost its color.
Kyle and Sarah, who came inside, ended up laughing bitterly. Just before facing the Demon King, they spent the night here. Even though four years have passed, the traces remain intact.
Following the trail, they headed inside.
How long did you walk?
Kyle and Sarah stopped.
Their eyes turned to the altar at the end of the church. That didn’t exist four years ago.
Everything is old, but that altar is like new. Among things that have lost their color, the altar has a clear color. Kyle walked to that strange altar while holding Raniel in his arms.
Raniel was laid down on the altar.
At that moment, a star whispers in Kyle’s ear.
【Perform the contract.】
A voice I’m tired of hearing.
However, Kyle responded with a smile as he heard that voice that was so welcome.
“okay.”
Don’t fulfill it.
This is the moment when Kyle muttered that.
A scale appeared in front of Kyle with a flood of starlight.
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fantasy,
