〈 Chapter 336 〉 Given Time (5)
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Twinkle The star illuminates the mansion.
Under the shining light, the elf’s faded silver hair sparkled. Kyle looked at the elf standing before him. She looked unchanged, entirely different from his own altered appearance over the past decade.
‘…as expected, she’s not like Remia.’
A mysterious existence, symbolic of unchangeableness. He felt no mystery from his companion, but from the elf in front of him, Kyle sensed even a sort of divinity. Especially because he knew her true identity.
“Yeah.”
Kyle slowly opened his mouth.
“It’s been a while, Cardi.”
“You know my name. I’d like to think it’s from meeting you back in my homeland, but…”
“Grand Magus, Cardi van Armiel.”
“Doesn’t seem like you arrived at that conclusion from sheer luck.”
With a murmur, Cardi smiled bitterly.
“Have you recalled everything?”
“Somehow.”
“How much do you know?”
“Everything.”
The memories of Cardi stored in the crystal orb.
Kyle had seen nearly all of it. He knew Cardi’s identity, the journey he had taken, and while there were some gaps, he grasped most of the content.
“When the contract with the star faded, all memories returned. Becoming a superhuman allowed me to retain those memories.”
“A chance occurrence, I see.”
“Just a series of coincidences stacked upon one another.”
Kyle let out a soft chuckle.
With emotions returning, Kyle no longer hid his smile. Lightly laughing, he murmured.
“Come to think of it, everything started back then. My dream of becoming a hero, the end where I entered into this contract… it all began there.”
Kyle looked at Cardi.
“Even if the memories were wiped away, the unconscious kept the remnants of everything.”
Addressing the ancient Grand Magus, Kyle said, “What the Grand Magus’s contract entailed, and what the sword that slays the demon refers to.”
“…It seems so.”
Cardi exhaled briefly.
When he faced Kyle back in his homeland, Arcadia, Cardi instinctively realized that the contract Kyle made with the star was fundamentally akin to his own.
‘Not for myself…’
A contract made for another.
A contract acting on the ‘trial’ that should be imposed on others. This was the kind of contract that Cardi and Kyle had made.
“Are you going to fulfill the contract from now on?”
“Looks like I have to.”
Kyle nodded.
He didn’t worry about why Cardi was waiting for him here. After all, this contract merely mimicked Cardi’s own.
Thus, Cardi would likely know.
What he was going to do now.
Kyle merely thought vaguely that Cardi must have been waiting for him here.
“Where’s Raniel?”
“She’s sleeping.”
That makes things easier.
Kyle took a step forward. Instead of blocking, Cardi sidestepped to create space.
“You’re not stopping me.”
“Would it help to try?”
Cardi smiled bitterly.
Kyle brushed past him. After nodding his head at Rosel, who was silently watching from the sofa, Kyle stood before the open door.
On the other side, Raniel lay asleep.
Before entering the room, Kyle glanced back.
Slowly, very slowly, he opened his mouth while looking at Cardi, who was standing aside.
“Cardi, you must know what I’m intending to do from now on.”
“Of course, I know.”
“Then, may I ask one thing?”
“I can answer… no, I can answer everything. Feel free to ask.”
Kyle took a breath.
While fiddling with the hilt of his sword, he spoke.
“…Do you think it’s possible?”
An incomplete question.
Reading the context of the sentence, Cardi exhaled shortly and replied.
“Don’t you already know the answer?”
He exhaled slowly.
As a companion of the First Hero.
And as a Grand Magus who had once made the same contract, Cardi advised his distant junior.
“Trust nothing.”
If there is anything to believe in.
“Believe only in yourself.”
That will be only yourself.
“Trust yourself and act upon what you believe is right. That itself will be the answer.”
Once he finished speaking.
Cardi bowed his head toward Kyle.
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
“For guiding you down this path, for not finding the answer myself, and for pushing this burden onto you all…”
I’m truly sorry.
Saying this, Cardi only received a slow shake of Kyle’s head in response.
“I’m not standing here with the grand aspirations of a hero or an awesome person.”
Kyle smiled.
“I’m just trying to repay a debt.”
A debt he cannot live without; it’s like that damnable character of his rubbed off on him. This is something Kyle does of his own volition. There’s no need for an apology or gratitude from anyone.
Thud.
Kyle stepped into the room.
Immediately after, a gust of wind blew in. After the wind swept through, there was no one left in the room.
Only the star remained.
Just the softly glowing star remained.
2.
Phantom Territory (？？）.
The range of the phantom territory varies along the frontline. As humanity’s frontlines expand, the border retreats as well.
Advancement and retreat.
Expansion and contraction.
Countless lands that have shifted from being human territory to demon territory exist, yet… some lands clearly remain unchanged. Those are primarily the lands that have been ravaged by disasters.
The Grave of the Sword, where death has visited, Galatrick.
The polluted city of Artiya, tainted by heresy.
The sand hell of Katena, struck by storms.
And.
The kingdom of Arcadia, the source of all calamities.
Such lands can never be purified.
For centuries, they remained as phantom territories, and no one dared to approach them.
“Thinking about it, it’s quite a few enemies.”
Sara spoke while resting her chin on the rattling carriage.
“It’s one thing for a disaster to sweep through, but places known to have been visited by the Demon Lord are really few, right?”
She spread her fingers wide.
“In the span of hundreds of years of history, those places must fit within these five fingers…”
Sara chuckled softly.
“The fact that these five are all distinct nations is nothing to laugh at, though. If such beings were set on destruction… what could they not break?”
The nightmares still haunting her sleep.
Shuddering at the memories of the waves of pollution she had witnessed back then, Sara felt a chill run down her spine. Seeing Sara shiver, Kyle smiled bitterly.
“Are you afraid?”
“Of course, I am. It feels like it could scare me to death.”
“Well…”
“Don’t even think about telling me to turn back.”
Sara cut him off decisively.
“I’ve already made my decision, and I clearly stated I’d go until the end.”
“…Thank you.”
“Say those things after it’s all over.”
With a sigh, Sara gazed at Kyle.
Kyle no longer concealed his emotions. Watching his thoughts unfold on his face brought back memories of the beginning of their journeys long ago.
Of how she had been so unbearable to Kyle.
How Kyle had come willingly to rescue her.
A person falls for another in an instant.
In one fleeting moment of emotion or mistake, a person’s life can plummet and be shattered. In that regard, Sara’s life has been beautifully ruined thanks to Kyle.
‘She even betrayed the god she served.’
Trying bad things.
‘I’ve done everything that the church elders told me not to. Really, I’ve had my fill of enjoyment.’
Having tried everything not to do.
Thus, Sara is somewhat satisfied with her short life. However, if there is one regret…
‘It’s that I couldn’t become a being like the saint in a fairytale.’
The saint in heroic tales.
The one who achieves great deeds alongside the hero, the most beautiful and noble woman in the world. While she didn’t particularly desire to be that shining presence, she had dreamed of it at least once.
It would probably be tiring.
Muttering thus, Sara turned her head.
Looking at the person sitting next to her.
With a life as tiring as that of a hero in a fairy tale, she sighed at the slumbering Raniel van Trias.
Sound asleep beside Sara in the rattling carriage, she doesn’t even stir. With her eyes closed, she merely breathes faintly as she slumbers. Sara reached out her hand to her forehead.
It’s not hard to gauge her condition.
She’s in a state that’s broken to the extent of being lifeless.
Initially filled with hatred for Raniel when she first heard Kyle’s plan, seeing her in such a state diminished that thought.
‘In any case…’
She owes her life to Raniel, just as she too has.
With a sigh, Sara withdrew her hand.
“We’re almost there.”
The scenery rushes by in an instant.
The church order’s carriage (？？）moves by a divine power without a driver, and it’s nearing its destination. The fleeting scenery becomes consistent at some point.
A colorless forest.
The carriage running along the rough path weaving through the trees suddenly came to a halt. The place where it stopped was an ancient church. Compared to the churches at the Holy Site of the Deloheim Church, this one was not lacking in size.
The church sitting in the colorless forest appeared just as colorless. As Kyle opened the gray door of the church, Sara surveyed her surroundings.
A colorless forest.
Concealed by the dense trees, she knew what lay beyond this forest. Beyond there lies the ruins of a kingdom that fell long ago.
The Kingdom of Selef.
A kingdom that perished overnight 600 years ago. Despite sitting in the middle of the phantom territory, not a single demon or even a common beast could be found nearby.
‘…That’s only natural.’
For the Demon Lord destroyed the Kingdom of Selef.
The places ravaged by the Demon Lord can no longer bear any life. They become lands untouched by starlight. Permanently tainted grounds. Lands rejected by the star.
Only black grass grows there.
Phantom Territory (？？）.
The true meaning of phantom territory lies beyond there.
However, to Sara and Kyle, that land cannot be simply expressed as mere ‘phantom territory.’ For them, that place symbolizes failure.
“…Kyle.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it’s been 4 years.”
Kyle adjusted the hilt of his sword.
“We’re back again.”
The ruins of the Kingdom of Selef.
A place turned into fields of black grass.
A place known commonly as the black fields.
Four years ago, they faced the Demon Lord here.
3.
The colorless church.
As Kyle and Sara entered, they couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Just before facing the Demon Lord, they spent a night here. Even after four years, the traces remained intact.
As they traced those remnants, they headed further inside.
How long had they walked?
Kyle and Sara came to a stop.
Their eyes landed on the altar at the end of the church. It was something that hadn’t existed four years prior.
Everything was worn down, but the altar was undeniably new. Amidst the lost colors, the altar retained a clear hue. Kyle approached while holding Raniel, laying her down on the altar.
At that moment, the star whispered in Kyle’s ear.
【Fulfilling the contract is imperative.】
An annoying voice he had heard repetitively.
Yet, at this moment, it sounded welcome, and Kyle responded with a smile.
“Alright.”
I will fulfill it.
The moment Kyle murmured thus.
With a flood of starlight, Balance appeared before Kyle.
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