〈 Episode 345 〉 Ka■■■(6）
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···Squeak, squeak.
There was a sound of something being twisted.
The second hand, which had been stationary for hundreds of years, moved. The sound of dusty, rusty gears turning is loud. A wizard who had lived for hundreds of years opened his eyes to the creaking noise.
“······.”
Cardi van Armiel.
The great sage sensed that there had been a change in the contract he had made with the star. There has been a change in the contract. The number of beings bound by this contract has increased. It was never good news. Cardi let out a long sigh.
“…As expected, it ended up like this.”
The star whispered to Cardi.
A new disaster has appeared.
All the star revealed was a single sentence, but Cardi understood the entire context leading up to this single sentence being assembled. He has no choice but to understand. Because I heard it all from the mouth of a woman from the future.
‘Raniel failed to persuade Kyle.’
In the end, she chose the second plan.
Cardi feels bitter about that fact. Even though he guessed it would be like this, even though he hoped it would be like this.
It has to be that way.
What unfolds before Raniel today is the path that Cardi once walked. Cardi himself knows best how terrible that road is. But, even though I know that…
‘He said we had to do it.’
Raniel from the future said.
If the first plan fails, this is the only option left. I know how terrible that method is, but I have no choice but to do it anyway.
It’s a tragedy.
It is a tragedy that I hoped would never happen again after telling my story. Cardi looked up at the stars in the night sky with her mixed eyes. It’s bittersweet, but I can’t sit like this forever.
It’s time to move.
She said that she would come back in the future, ten days after the birth of the disaster. She has ten days to do what she has to do. Cardi knew the answer to that question.
“First, we should bring him.”
Cardi wore a robe.
2.
Although the sun has already set and the stars are twinkling at night, there is someone who is suffering from unfinished business. In the office where everyone had left, Kalt, who was sorting out documents with wide eyes, reached for his coffee cup.
The coffee cup is already empty.
Kalt let out a short sigh and leaned against the backrest. Since there was no solution, I just felt like my stomach was stuck.
‘I still haven’t heard from you…’
There is no communication from Raniel, who is lying in a hospital bed. Even if he offers to visit the patient, only a refusal will come back. Normally, you are a senior who would just shake it off and get up.
“Whoa…”
It was around this time that Kalt was sighing and fiddling with his coffee cup. Kalt narrowed her eyes at the sign of popularity she felt at the end of the hallway. It was a strange show of popularity.
The Hounds have all left work, and he is the only one left in this building. Why does he feel popular?
The sound of footsteps was constant.
The hallway must have been littered with magic tools to prevent intrusion, but how? Kalt hastily checked the crystal ball connected to the magic tool. Every time the intruder took a step, the connection with the magic tools within range was lost.
‘It wasn’t cut off.’
It was falling apart.
Whoosh!
Something flying from the blind spot hits the magic tool and that’s the end. Several more magic tools shattered with a crunching sound.
‘As if I had been sniped…’
It was an extraordinary feat.
Kalt’s eyes narrowed.
“······.”
Kalt grabbed the hilt of the sword hanging on the wall.
Incheok stopped in front of the door.
This is the moment when Kalt catches his breath and prepares to attack at any moment. Someone was smart and knocked on the door. It was very polite behavior for an intruder.
‘···Are you crazy?’
Kalt blinked.
Then the door opened with a squeak. The moment he saw the face of the person standing in front of the door, Kalt’s eyes widened.
“Hello, human.”
She stood in front of the door and waved her hand.
“The great ancestor asked me to bring you.”
“···Lemia?”
Shrine, Remia.
Kalt let out a helpless laugh at the unexpected identity of the intruder and put down the hilt of his sword.
“Was the intruder Remia?”
“intruder?”
“yes. “For what reason?”
“Isn’t it trespassing?”
“yes?”
“huh?”
Remia tilted her head.
Kalt blinked and asked back.
“Didn’t you destroy all the crime prevention magic tools?”
“That one that looks like a target?”
“···yes?”
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“I broke it all because it was flashing red. It hurts my eyes. “Elves are sensitive to such visual stimulation.”
She, with a seemingly innocent face, pressed the corner of my eye. Kalt thought as he watched her pretending that her eyes were hurting.
···Is she crazy?
Fortunately, Kalt did not make the mistake of saying what was in his head and went out of the building, following Remia. How far did he walk outside?
“Are you here?”
Late morning.
An elf was standing in front of a carriage on the outside of the castle wall. It was an elf I had encountered a few times while intertwined with my senior. An ancient elf named Cardi.
“Just get on. “I’ll explain as I go.”
* * *
Cardi said from inside the fast-moving carriage. The explanation was short and had many missing parts here and there.
“That means.”
But Kalt is used to such explanations.
Kalt, who quickly grasped the situation, opened his mouth.
“I have to go to the area where disaster resides to save my senior… Is that what you mean?”
“That’s what it sounds like.”
“Why is your senior there?”
“Because that disaster saved your senior.”
Cardi responded briefly.
Kalt’s eyes narrowed.
“…Disaster saves people? “What kind of crazy talk is that?”
“······.”
“The sword of death, Skebal… there is no way that crazy, apostate bitch can save people. All we can do is kill and destroy them all…”
Kalt closed his mouth without speaking.
Because I saw the expression of the elf in front of me harden. Kalt knows how to read the mood. Kalt kept his mouth shut and waited for Cardi to speak.
“Censorship… is better than I thought.”
Okay, I’ll tell you.
Cardi muttered like that before opening her mouth.
“Kyle Torben.”
The strongest warrior.
“That guy has become a new disaster. “It was done in exchange for saving Raniel van Trias.”
“···yes?”
Kalt blinked, unable to understand for a moment. Cardi continued speaking.
“It’s complicated to explain, but that’s the end result. Kyle Torben has become a disaster… and I plan to take Raniel out of the area where he is staying.”
“What is that…”
It was something I couldn’t understand.
But Cardi gave no further explanation. As if it would be difficult to say more than this. Instead of such a secondary explanation, Cardi said something else.
“It hasn’t been that long since he became a disaster. He will still have a strong ego. “He won’t immediately attack us once we enter his territory.”
“···Is that so?”
“okay. It’s not that easy to betray a soul. Egos are probably still clashing with each other. It will take at least ten days. Until I started working in earnest.”
The information was detailed.
Cardi laid out the detailed plan to Kalt, and even though Kalt did not fully understand the situation, Kalt understood the operation. It was that much detailed information.
“You seem to know very well about disasters.”
“I must know better.”
Cardi responded briefly.
“Because I have experienced it all.”
The time it takes for one human being to become a disaster.
A time when renegade humans become active in earnest.
A reaction seen in the early stages of defection.
Cardi knew all of that. Although he may not have found the answer, Cardi studied the disaster more deeply than anyone else. He never thought the knowledge would be used in this way… but whatever.
“That’s it.”
After finishing his explanation, Cardi let out a short breath.
Breathing out, Cardi glanced at Kalt. That hound whose head seems to be working well must have figured it out. The problem is the thoughtless-looking elf sitting next to him. Cardi, who was glancing at Remia, opened his mouth.
“···Did you understand? “Remia.”
“yes.”
Remia nodded.
“Don’t provoke Kyle and save Raniel. “I understood that’s what you said.”
“Other than that, are you okay?”
“I don’t know the intent of the question.”
“The story is that Kyle Torben has been a disaster. “He was your colleague…”
“hmm···.”
Remia smoothed her chin.
After thinking for a moment, Remia spoke.
“does not matter.”
she laughed
“It was a relationship I enjoyed anyway.”
Kalt, who was sitting next to him, took a deep breath.
Cardi frowned.
Their reactions are far from showing disgust. Remia’s awkward voice. A tone that seems to be exaggerated. Because that was clearly the reaction of someone telling a lie.
‘That’s a lie.’
Kalt and Cardi felt that way.
But I didn’t point out that fact.
“It’s okay if it’s okay.”
“it’s okay. “I am an elf.”
Remia nodded and said.
“For elves who live forever, humans are just a moment of entertainment. “I remember the teachings that our great ancestor, Kardi, repeatedly emphasized to us.”
Cardi was silent.
That was what he said when he taught Orvel, and it was also what the former elder taught Cardi. Elves are a race that lives forever. To such elves, humans who live only a moment are poison.
Never love a human being.
Don’t truly love them.
All that remains is extreme loneliness.
The fleeting lives of humans fascinate elves. It leaves an indelible mark on our lives for eternity. It is poison. A poison that can never be deciphered.
‘···Because you will become obsessed with the past.’
I miss the past.
We become buried in the past we shared with humans. Those who live forever are ruined the moment they become obsessed with the past.
The previous elders experienced that.
Cardi also had to experience it firsthand.
That’s why Cardi left a warning not to have the same regrets as he did… but Cardi smiled bitterly as she looked at the descendants in front of her who seemed a bit lacking. In the end, advice is just advice.
“okay.”
You don’t realize it until you experience it yourself.
“It’s okay if it’s okay.”
You too have been buried.
It left an indelible mark.
What a pity, Cardi muttered to herself.
“Thank you for your cooperation. “Shrine.”
“…It is an honor to be able to be of help to my benefactor.”
There was silence for a while.
The carriage moved for a while and eventually arrived at its destination. The old site of the Selef Kingdom. They set foot in a colorless forest near the fallen old kingdom.
3.
Ka■ ■■ comes to mind.
Who you were.
What you need to do.
I thought about it and thought about it, but my thoughts didn’t flow properly. A thought that suddenly breaks away. Accidents that do not continue. I look around but can’t see anything. In the pitch black, unable to see or hear anything, Ka■ thought and remembered.
What must be done.
A promise that must be kept.
In the darkness he saw a handful of rising ash. He thought as he looked at the ashes. Gray. re. A handful of ashes. That is its purpose.
This is why you must resist.
But to what?
But, how?
I don’t even know what to resist or what to cut. My mind is cloudy. In the midst of the turbulence, the shadow whispered into Kyle’s ear.
Kill it.
What, Kyle asked.
Ashes, the shade answered.
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fantasy,
