We endured a thousand years hoping for a reunion, but what was given at the end of the thousand years of waiting was really just a moment. For humans, let alone elves, it is just a fleeting moment.
The moment was coming to an end.
There is not much time left to feel each other’s warmth, to share stories, to reminisce, and to listen to each other’s voices.
···I feel thirsty.
However, we promised to send them off with a smile until the end. You can’t shed tears unsightly. Cardi held her breath and looked at Gleria with strained eyes. He asked her a question as her eyes slowly faded.
“Isn’t it okay if I tell you why you called me Armiel?”
“After enough time has passed that you don’t feel like it’s the only one?”
“…Are you going to tell me in a few hundred years?”
“Because truly, a thousand years have passed.”
2.
“You haven’t forgotten that yet?”
Gleria smiled at Cardi’s question.
Anyway, I still use my good memory for useless things. To answer the question, Gleria let out a long breath. She closed her eyes and traced her memories.
Why did you insist on the name Armiel?
I remember it for a really trivial reason.
I think they called it that because it was fun to see Cardi’s reaction from the middle, but there wasn’t really any grand reason.
“Really, it was a trivial reason.”
“I wish you could understand my feelings for waiting a thousand years to hear that trivial reason.”
Gleria chuckled.
She let out a long breath and opened her mouth. As she opens her mouth, what she is reminded of is the past. A very long past.
“I’m just saying…”
Cardi van Armiel.
The head of the kingdom’s greatest magic tower and the only archmage in Arcadia who is respected by everyone. A person everyone respects and fears.
“You are such a great person that no one dares to challenge you… so everyone called you Cardi, right? “No one knows that you hate your baptismal name.”
Lord of the Gray Magic Tower.
Archmage.
Dear Cardi. Sir Cardi.
Cardi, Cardi, Cardi…
“If you think about it, it’s natural. Because no one wants to be out of your sight. “What good is there in offending you?”
“…Was I that authoritarian?”
“Not necessarily, but whatever.”
Gleria tilted her head.
She continued speaking, tickling her hair with her fingers, as if she was a little embarrassed.
“When I saw that, a thought occurred to me. “When everyone calls you Cardi, if I call you Armiel… I think I can monopolize ‘Armiel’ instead of Cardi…”
“······.”
“···Why do you look at me like that?”
“Gleria, you. “Didn’t you call me Armiel from the moment you first met me?”
“…It was like that, right?”
“······.”
“···what? why. Do you want me to tell you that I fell in love with you at first sight and that I wanted to feel special to you from the first time we met? Wow, do I have to say this in words to understand?”
Cardi laughed at the sight of Gleria looking a little sulky. He waited a thousand years to hear this answer. It was a disappointing, yet humorous answer.
“I was wondering if there was some special reason…”
“Well, later on, another reason came up.”
“Any other reasons?”
“After I started dating you, you said that sometimes, right? Your time and mine are different. Someday I will leave your side. “Such words.”
“···I remember it.”
“So I thought about it. How will you remember me when I’m gone? “How can I remember the times we spent together? As I thought about it, I came up with an answer.”
“Armiel,” Gleria whispered.
“I thought it would be a good name.”
Gleria smiled mischievously.
“Every time you think of this baptismal name that was exclusive to you, you will remember me. Even if I leave you, you can still think of me.”
That’s what I thought.
Now that I think about it, I feel embarrassed.
Gleria, who was mumbling and laughing loudly, looked straight at Cardi.
“That’s it. “There is no other reason.”
“···is it.”
“So, did it have any meaning?”
“There was. “To the point where it’s terrible.”
Cardi laughed bitterly.
Armiel. The baptismal name given to oneself.
In the past, Cardi was sure that Gleria had a special reason for calling him that. Therefore, when mankind found a new home after the fall of Arcadia… he built a magic tower there and revealed his name as ‘Armiel’, not Cardi.
The first gray magic tower lord, Armiel.
Everyone called themselves Armiel.
In fact, Gleria explained that it was a pointless prank that originated from the girl’s love, but contrary to her intentions, the name ‘Armiel’ became a shackle for Cardi.
Because I can’t find the answer, because no one remembers the past, because I’m the only one who has this memory, because I keep hearing news about my colleagues who have turned into disasters.
That eroded Cardi’s spirit.
It made Cardi sick. Broken like that, he tried to let go of everything again and again, and tried to return his contract to nothing…
「Mr. Armiel.」
——————
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The wizards of the Magic Tower.
People from the royal family.
Wizards who come to him and ask for his teachings.
Countless, countless people.
“Armiel?”
Every time he said the name Armiel, Cardi had to think of Gleria. She had to remember her smiling face as she called herself Armiel. As she was swallowed up by the shadows, she had to remind herself of Gleria’s whisper, ‘I will believe it.’
That’s why I couldn’t give up.
I could never do anything like let go.
Armiel. Because that name, which now belongs only to you, caught me when I was about to give up and lifted me up. Because he yelled at me not to stop.
“It was a terrible curse.”
“Is that so?”
“okay. At the same time, it was cheering.”
It was a curse that prevented me from letting go of this dream, and at the same time, it was a cheer.
“Because of that, I was able to come this far.”
“Then it meant something.”
Gleria laughed.
Cardi also laughed. After laughing for a while, Gleria let out a long breath. She then slowly raised her body.
“Armiel.”
Cardi’s eyes wavered.
Gleria’s body went from becoming blurry to crumbling. Cardi, realizing that her approaching end had caught her gleam, hastily stood up.
“I think time is up.”
Gleria laughed painfully.
“I can’t help it,” she muttered, tilting her head. Her flowing hair does not sparkle in the sunlight. The light penetrated her hair.
It becomes blurry. It becomes transparent. disappears
Although he thought he was prepared and understood that this kind of ending would be waiting for him, Cardi’s gaze wavered in the face of the approaching end. Cardi’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
“It’s nice to talk to you after so long. It was nice to see your face again after a long time. “I never imagined there would be an opportunity like this…”
Unlike Cardi, who could not say anything, Gleria continued to speak. However, her voice also wavered a little.
“To be able to meet again, really…”
There was moisture in the voice.
Gleria lowered her head. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. Her lips trembled.
“I was really happy.”
However, Gleria eventually raised her head.
With tears streaming down her face, she looked at Cardi with a smile. She said at the end that she wanted to see her off with a smile.
“Did you do that too?”
“Of course, girl.”
Cardi responded.
Cardi said in a trembling voice, pressing the corner of her eye and forcing a smile.
“Why are you asking the obvious?”
“Even though it’s obvious, sometimes words are important. “It’s the last time.”
What are your last words?
The worries didn’t last long. Cardi opened her mouth.
“Gleria.”
“Yes, Armiel.”
“love. “In the past and in the future.”
Cardi has never spoken bluntly.
Cardi is a picky and cool-headed person, unable to even make a proper confession… and extremely sloppy when it comes to dating. Gleria laughed at the words Cardi said. As if she couldn’t be happier.
“me too.”
At the last moment she smiled.
With your back turned to the pouring sunlight, a smile brighter than ever.
“I’m fine, Cardi.”
The wind blew.
Gleria’s body was scattered along with the blowing wind. Her body and soul were scattered. Cardi stretched out his hand toward the light powder blowing in the wind. Naturally, there was nothing he could get his hands on.
···It is impossible to catch the wind that flows by.
The wind that stayed by my side for a split second has now gone to a place I can’t chase. Cardi’s eyes wavered as she looked at the sparkling light powder. His lips trembled. Finally, Cardi bowed his head.
A wind blew across the field.
Cardi collapsed amidst the blowing wind.
Cardi moaned as she fell to her knees.
I decided to resolutely let her go until the end, but I pictured the same situation in my head over and over again…
Thump, thud.
In the end, tears flow.
All the emotions that had accumulated and settled over the past hundreds of years came out. The elf, who had lived as if her emotions had been castrated for hundreds of years, let out her emotions.
“Thank you, Armiel.”
“Call me by name. “It’s not a baptismal name I like very much.”
“I like this one better?”
What passes through my mind is the past hundreds of years. Moments with Gleria flashed through her mind. The time she stayed by my side passed quickly.
“This is Cardi Van Armiel, who will be teaching you from today. “I don’t like my baptismal name, so call me Cardi.”
“I understand, Teacher Armiel.”
“Did you even listen to what I said?”
The moment I became her teacher.
“To everyone, I am nothing more than a saint and an apostle of God. So, what am I? It means that no one cares about me as Gleria, not as Gleria Bel Armias. I am···.”
“Why isn’t there one?”
“···yes?”
“Like most wizards, I don’t consider stars to be divine beings. In my eyes, you are just an ordinary human being who can do a little more than others.”
“···lie.”
“her. Have I ever treated you like a saint? In my eyes, you are just a cocky kid.”
“What did you say?”
“why. Do you want to be treated like an adult? Then, first, try to master this sacred art properly. “What a useless worry if you can’t even do one of these things properly.”
“Well, I’ll be an adult next year, right? I’m already a full-fledged adult. Looking at it from the outside, it looks like there isn’t much of an age difference between you and me, but no matter how you look at it, you’re not old enough to be treated like a kid…”
“It’s so damn salty.”
The times I spent teaching her and listening to her stories.
“No way, is that a confession now? “No?”
「······.」
“Wow, I might like this person. Are you really going crazy? Who confesses like that…!”
“So, do you like it or dislike it?”
“no, I do not want. I really hate it. I don’t accept confessions like this. No, where are you going? “I’m not finished talking yet.”
“You said you didn’t like it, right?”
“Why are people so annoying… Ugh, that’s enough. “It’s not like I didn’t know he was this kind of person.”
“···Why are you grabbing me by the collar?”
“Look carefully. “This is how confession is done.”
The moment I became a lover with her.
“I have to take care of this rat.”
“ouch! Why are you hitting me, Armiel!”
“Do you know how many times I told you not to call me by my baptismal name? It’s already the 3752nd. “I feel like I’ve been saying this once a day for nearly 10 years.”
“Stop giving up, then!”
“You give up. “Elves don’t know how to give up.”
The day I started my journey.
“I’m afraid. The fact that the salvation I hope for may not be salvation. I’m so angry that I can’t save them. “Am I going the right way?”
“It’s okay to be wrong. “I will make it right.”
“You?”
“okay. “Is that why I followed you?”
“Then, I will believe it.”
The day we made our promise.
“I’m sorry, Armiel.”
The day I lost her.
The day when a journey of a thousand years began.
“You’re still like me.”
「······.」
“What Armiel said? Don’t lose your sense of righteousness. Do not forget your path. “If you forget…”
“I said I would make it right.”
“is it so.”
“Isn’t it okay because it’s a promise, not a contract?”
“···no.”
The day I faced the broken woman.
“I will find the answer. As long as you remember your promise, I will not forget my promise either. I···.”
“Then I’ll wait.”
The day I couldn’t end things with her in the end and made another promise in front of her. So many, many memories flowed, but what settled down in the end was one memory.
“I was happy to meet you again.”
“I’m fine, Cardi.”
Cardi, not Armiel.
Only at the very end did she call her name. Cardi sobbed as she pondered over that voice and remembered the voice she could no longer hear.
—————.
Screams, moans, cries.
Cardi raised her head, letting out everything she had been holding in. With a confused look of mixed emotions, he stretched out his hand towards the light powder disappearing in the air.
Disappear, everything.
The scenery, the light powder, the wind that stayed by my side, everything crumbled. Looking at the scenery of the collapsing hill, Cardi barely managed to smile through tears. I want to see her off with a smile for the last time.
“Goodbye, Gleria.”
Goodbye, my eternity.
fantasy,
