* * *
* * *
If you lower your head and look down at your feet, you will see a pile of whitish ash. When I look up at the sky, ash is falling like snow. As a result, the temple was covered with ashes.
A half-collapsed temple.
It seemed more correct to call the temple, which only half maintained its original form, a ruin rather than a temple. It is not a place to worship a god, but a place to testify that such a god existed in the past.
“Nice to meet you, idiot.”
One human was guarding that place.
A man sitting on a collapsed stone pillar chewed on a cigar. There was no need to light it. The moment the ash falling from the sky touched the end of the year, a fire broke out.
The man let out a long sigh and looked at Destel with his chin resting.
“What should I start with? Okay, let’s start with a cliché.”
The man chuckled.
“I am you.”
Destel pointed to Destel.
“You come from a failed future.”
* * *
A self from a failed future.
I already knew that fact the moment I met him face to face. I knew it, but I didn’t understand it. The man in front of him let out a long breath, paying no heed to Destel’s gaze. Thick smoke obscured Destel’s vision.
“So, how was it?”
A voice rang out through the smoke.
“If things go as they should be, this is the future you would have had to go through.”
“···You call that a question?”
Destel snapped nervously.
“It was a nightmare. It was terrible. What do you want from me, making me keep having the same dream? What, just watch and learn?”
Ever since the day the war against apostates ended.
Not even for a single day did Destel dream. She had to face nightmares in her dreams. She pressed her eyes and let out a sigh.
“What do you want to say?”
“Did you realize anything after seeing that?”
“what?”
“Well, I guess that’s why I ended up here.”
Chi profit. Future Destel, rubbing the back of his hand with the beginning of the year, stood up. He relaxed his body lightly with a pop, then slowly raised his hand.
The sound of snapping fingers.
The moment the sound rang out, the warrior’s uniform he wore fluttered loudly. The uniform was stained dark red with blood. The moment the tattered star clothes fluttered, the scenery changed completely.
“What you saw was the future, but it was also the past.”
A temple that has lost its god.
The pile of ashes was blown away by a sudden wind. The floor of the temple was revealed between the scattered ashes. There were numerous weapons stuck on the floor.
Broken spear blade. Broken sword. A shattered shield.
A tomb filled with numerous weapons.
The weapons planted in the tomb looked familiar to Destel. “That’s it,” Destel narrowed his eyes. There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize it. They were all the weapons of warriors. Because it was the weapon he imitated.
Shut up.
Future Destel grabbed one of them. Broken spear blade. It was the star spear of Galahar. However, unlike the shining holy spear that Destel knew… it had turned dark red with blood caked on it.
“The future I saw. The nightmare I saw. All of that definitely happened. He firmly believed that if he went back, all of that would never have happened, and that he could make it happen…”
He chuckled.
“That’s not right. There’s no way that’s possible.”
How can something like that be tolerated?
Muttering that, he fixed the broken holy spear and held it.
“Everything happened. My mistake. That guy’s mistake. A disaster caused by big and small mistakes coming together. People who had to die. People who had to be lost. Countless knights and heroes who had to be sacrificed.”
The blood I had to drink.
The blood flowing here now.
A weapon soaked in blood.
“All of that cannot be erased. The blood they shed does not disappear. It only became fertilizer to compact the ground you are now stepping on, but they still exist.”
With a thud, he took a step forward.
“Then I asked you.”
Ash flew everywhere.
“At that time, I asked you if you had any regrets, if you were living differently than me, and if you could arrive at a different ending than I did.”
A scene seen during the battle to subdue apostates.
A question asked by my future self, standing at the end of the bloodshed.
“To that question, you answered, ‘I don’t regret it.’ You answered that you won’t regret it in the future.”
Destel answered that question like this.
Future Destel did not forget that answer.
“That’s it.”
『Add one condition before signing the contract.』
『I don’t believe in myself. No matter how beautiful the world you changed by going back to the past is, I will still be a coward there. It would be nothing more than servitude.』
He recalled a conversation he once had with God.
『So I will ask myself.』
『Are you qualified? Fulfillment of the contract comes next.』
“The contract has been concluded.”
Be humble. A warrior who had spent his entire life stooping low and regretting it let out a long breath.
“Hey, non-gul.”
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“······.”
groveling. A warrior who decided not to bend anymore looked at his future self in silence. He looked at the blood-stained spear aimed at his future self.
“I made a contract with that guy. In other words, I am his first apostle. Even though I exist as a parasite on me in this time period…”
Nevertheless.
“I exist here.”
As the guy’s agent.
And, as evidence of a past that clearly existed.
“Representing the future that has become the past, I will stand before you and ask you.”
What, Bigul asked.
Qualifications, Bigul (卑屈) answered.
“Were you proud that you gave a blow to an apostate? Were you flattered that you took a step forward? Did you think you were a hero?”
Future Destel sneered.
“Put it aside. Prove to me that you can reach where I could not. That you have the strength to overcome the trials that will come your way now.”
If you can’t prove it.
If you are found to be unqualified.
If that happens.
“I will be the one to have that body.”
“I’m leaving.”
Early in the morning, everyone prepared to leave for their respective stages. Lac Van Grace is at the northwest end, to the abandoned temple. Except for him, the remaining people all began to board the carriage heading to the frozen tower at the northern end.
And, Raniel patted the shoulders of those getting on the carriage and gave them a light greeting. Raniel, who had been sending off one by one, stood in front of Destel for the last time.
“You will be the one to lead the battle to subdue the madmen. I have been entrusted with a heavy role this time as well. Please take good care of me, Destel.”
Raniel chuckled.
“I’ll see you alive.”
After patting his shoulder like that, Raniel suddenly blinked. This was because Destel’s eyes, which I had inadvertently met, were different from usual. Sunken eyes.
“Destel?”
“······.”
Destel got into the carriage without saying a word.
Raniel tilted his head, then lightly waved his hand at the departing carriage. While all the personnel left the station, Raniel walked through the station alone. Now it was his turn to leave for his own stage.
“···Phew.”
Only after everyone had left did Raniel let out a long breath. He loosened his tightly tied scarf a little, took off his gloves, and stuffed them into his robe pocket.
Final chapter.
The final phase, which I thought would take two or three months at the earliest, is just around the corner. Ganicalt, the Madman, the King of Demon Beasts, and then the Shadow. In a situation where he had to defeat them all at the same time, Raniel pressed his eyebrows together.
···It was not enough.
There was a lack of preparation. I let my guard down.
I thought everything would go according to plan, but the madman turned the tables. All expectations were overturned and the board was dyed black with unexpected numbers.
‘···There is only one difference.’
It’s a situation where each side is aiming for the back of each other’s necks. The madman took out all the numbers he had hidden. In that case, we too will have to take out everything we have.
“······.”
Raniel silently snapped his fingers.
What shines above your fingers is starlight. The starlight formed the shape of a scale and then dispersed. The only chance Raniel has left until the very end. Maybe, he should write it, Raniel thought.
“Anyway.”
Raniel let out a long breath. He exhaled, re-tied his scarf, and put on his gloves. Then, he gave strength and took a step forward. How many steps did you take like that?
“Tap,” he said.
Kalt followed Raniel one step behind without a word. Raniel said as he glanced at Kalt, who had finished arming himself.
“I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean?”
“The one that made you participate in the battle to subdue Ganicalt.”
Kalt was silent for a moment at Raniel’s words.
After being silent, he inadvertently burst into laughter.
“well.”
Kalt shrugged his shoulders and said.
“I don’t think you have anything to be sorry about.”
“···What are you talking about? That.”
“Actually, when the names of the people who would participate in the battle to subdue the madmen were called… If my name had been included, I would have questioned them. I asked them to let me participate in the battle to subdue the Ganicalt.”
“why?”
“Why would you do that?”
With a clatter, Kalt struck the sword hanging on his waist.
“My teacher was struck by the sword of death at the end of his life. Then, shouldn’t I not only shed the sword of death but also cut off one or two bones to live up to my name as a sword saint?”
“What is that…”
“More than anything.”
Kalt laughed bitterly.
“The founder of the Sword Valley, the original source of my sword, is there. I should show it to him.”
Kalt gave a short answer to the question, “What?”
“Galatric Ryu (流).”
He said as he smoothed the hilt of his sword.
“It started with his sword, but shouldn’t we show him the swords of future generations that have flowed and now bloomed in their own way? I don’t know everything about his life, but…”
Kalt laughed.
“I think that’s the greatest tribute we can pay to a once-hero.”
“Is that so?”
“Isn’t it wonderful?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s romantic.”
“Aren’t I a swordsman who lives for romance and dies for romance?”
The two walked away laughing.
The place they are heading to after boarding the carriage is the front line and beyond. A place no one has reached in hundreds of years. This is where the final ordeal that humanity must go through to face the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons is located.
Gehete, the place where death is silent.
The two people head towards the place located under the torn sky. Because they have their own stage there.
Pieces move on the chessboard.
White, moving toward both ends of the continent, and black, moving from the ends of the continent toward the center, are mixed. To make a final decision. To put an end to a long struggle.
A warrior leading a white piece.
The madman leading the black piece looks at each other.
Across the chessboard, the two show off everything they have. Black brought the pieces that White had not been paying attention to and put them on the board, and White blocked the pieces through black’s belittling words.
However, neither the hero nor the madman know that there is one piece that neither black nor white had in mind.
“Go first.”
When the fast-moving carriage arrived at the royal capital, Destel got out of the carriage. He turned away from the eyes of the punitive force members who were looking at him, and Destel lightly waved his hand.
“There’s a place I need to stop by. I’ll arrive in time, so go first.”
Destel took a step.
Resty, who was watching Destel walking, suddenly tilted his head.
“···ash?”
Ash was rising from Destel’s body as he walked. The amount was so small that even the Watcher, Resty, could barely recognize it, but it was clearly ash.
fantasy,
