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〈 Chapter 340 〉 Kyle Toven (1)
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Black rain poured down.
The falling rain stained the colorless forest black. Two people walked through the darkening woods. Splash, the sound of stepping in puddles echoed.
Kyle’s steps were light.
Having shaken off his last remaining bonds, Kyle felt lighter than ever. His exhaled breath dispersed easily.
‘…Future, future.’
Raniel van Trias from the future.
Listening to her words, Kyle could realize. In the time she had to endure, he had undoubtedly failed. He must have wavered.
Because of his failure, she suffered hell.
The voice of Rania, who walked through hell for thirteen years, dripped with poison. A toxic bitterness. The venom spewed by someone who had lost everything and was hollowed out was severe.
She said she had lost everything.
She claimed she could not become a hero.
Thus, she said she had returned.
She pleaded not to believe in herself, but Kyle still believed in Raniel. No matter where she came from, she was still Raniel. If given a small opportunity, she would rise again, Kyle trusted.
So.
He would willingly be that opportunity.
“…”
Kyle silently looked ahead.
Though obscured by the trees, it was pouring rain beyond them. There lay the battlefield he once fled from. The wasteland that had become a symbol of his failure, making it unforgettable.
Achieve the feat you turned your back on.
That was the trial the star had given to Kyle.
He exhaled briefly. Remembering the finely sharpened inner sword (?), he continued walking. How long had he walked?
Splash, another puddle splashed.
Before he knew it, Kyle had reached the edge of the forest.
“Kyle.”
Kyle turned around.
Sara, who had been silent the whole time, was calling him. He looked at Sara. Her head was lowered, hiding her eyes. Wet strands of hair covered her face.
Looking down at the ground, Sara said.
“See, you were thinking of dying, weren’t you?”
Kyle remained silent.
2.
So you were thinking of dying.
Though she asked the question, Kyle said nothing. As though not denying it. When no answer came, Sara bit her lip in frustration.
She thought it would come to this.
From the moment she heard about the contract, she suspected it, but the moment she saw Raniel claiming to be from the future, she was certain.
“You’re planning to die.”
Kyle Toven.
This man, who meant everything to her, planned to die here today. It was not an achievement that could be accomplished with a human body. Indeed, Kyle was truly planning to stake everything he had.
Clenching.
Biting her lip, Sara tightly clenched her fist. Her hands trembled fiercely.
“He’s going to die here…”
“Sara.”
Kyle gently interrupted Sara’s words.
Slowly lifting her head, Sara gazed at him.
Swish.
Kyle reached out and brushed aside Sara’s wet hair. Facing her tearful eyes, he said.
“Your face is a mess, Sara.”
“…What is it?”
“Reminds me of old times.”
Kyle smiled.
“Didn’t you do this back then? The time you were kidnapped.”
“When was that…”
“I can’t forget it. You’d always cling to me, crying and screaming.”
Sara’s face turned red.
“W-why are you bringing that up now?”
“Just for no reason.”
Muttering, Kyle continued.
“It just feels like so much time has passed since then. Just like you said. It’s an old story.”
And.
“Throughout all that time, you’ve stayed by my side.”
Sara fell silent.
Kyle smiled as he said.
“You must have gotten tired of me. You’ve seen me in many embarrassing situations… Thank you for staying by my side.”
“You’ve said this before.”
“It’s an important thing, so I say it multiple times.”
“What does that have to do with the current situation…”
“It has everything to do with it.”
Kyle tapped the hilt of his sword, which hung from his waist, with his palm. From the holy sword, a subtle starlight emanated. A starlight more transparent than ever.
“Watch me closely this time.”
Kyle smiled.
“I’ll show you the most splendid sight.”
Looking at Kyle’s dazzling smile, Sara let out a chuckle, oddly fitting for the situation.
“…Since when did you become so cocky?”
“Not cocky, I’ve always been like this. Just kept my composure for the occasion. After all, I’m just a country bumpkin.”
Sara flinched, trembling slightly.
“Traveling with a country bumpkin, my life has truly been strange. Don’t come near me. You smell.”
“Is it because I wasn’t educated? There’s no dignity in your behavior. Your speech is so crude. How can people trust you as a hero?”
In the early days of their journey.
To return to the church as soon as possible, Sara made Kyle’s life miserable. This was when she was acting on the orders of the church’s elders.
“Since you’re a country bumpkin, what can you do?”
The words Sara used back then now slipped from Kyle’s mouth, accompanied by a playful smile. As if teasing her. Face flushed, Sara reached out and covered Kyle’s mouth.
“C-cut it out. At that time, I didn’t know anything…”
“Not wrong, though.”
Grabbing Sara’s wrist and lowering her arm, Kyle said.
“I’m still the same as back then. Like the child I was. Adoring heroes, dreaming of becoming one… wanting to show off in front of girls like a country bumpkin.”
Kyle smiled bitterly.
“Sorry about that.”
But.
“I have to do this.”
He could not give up.
He could not back down. Even if it meant risking death, Kyle had to achieve this feat. This was something he could not compromise, yet Kyle did not expect Sara to understand him.
“So…”
Just as Kyle was about to continue speaking.
“Really.”
Sara interrupted him.
She grabbed Kyle by the collar, pulling him close. After a moment of silence, with a whoosh, Sara exhaled the breath that had been held.
“Doing this.”
With a slightly reddened face, Sara shot back.
“Doing this, how can I stop you?”
I know. I know it.
Muttering that, Sara said.
“I know just saying it won’t stop you. I know you have to do this.”
She had eavesdropped on Raniel’s story from the future.
She had heard of the hell she endured.
When she saw Raniel collapse and beg before her, Sara could not bring herself to blame her.
‘Even now…’
Even now, it is so.
Unable to blame anyone, unable to make excuses, Sara felt tormented. She was someone who had repeatedly shifted responsibilities to others. But all that remained in the end was the responsibility she turned her back on.
She survived the encounter with the demon lord.
Having lived, indebted to Raniel for many things.
She had lived with her eyes averted from her duties.
In this situation she reached after surviving, Sara could blame no one. Ultimately, in a state of despair, she clutched Kyle’s collar and continued.
“Still, I wish you wouldn’t die.”
“…That’s.”
“I know it’s unreasonable. But I’ll be stubborn about it.”
Sara swallowed her tears as she spoke.
“Why would you die so easily? You can’t die here. I’ll keep you alive no matter what.”
“…That’s quite the impressive confession.”
Having muttered an unromantic line, Sara clamped her lips back over Kyle’s mouth, releasing a long sigh before letting go of him. She then pushed Kyle gently.
“Lead the way.”
“Sara, you should stay here and be blessed…”
“Why are you acting like this when you read plenty of fairy tales?”
Sara smiled mischievously.
“The place for a saint is beside the God, and beside the hero. Standing behind, muttering prayers or shooting arrows is the role of the supporting cast.”
I’m not like Remia.
Right now, I’m by Kyle’s side.
‘I’ve won, you scabby ear girl.’
Muttering that in her mind, Sara stood next to Kyle. Together, they stepped forward into the dark rain-soaked wasteland. It was terrifying. Frantically terrifying, but right now, Sara thought it didn’t matter.
Just once.
Though tiring for a lifetime, she thought she wanted to be a heroine from a fairy tale at least once. With her trembling hand, Sara tightly grasped Kyle’s empty one.
“Let’s go, Hero.”
Let’s create a fairy tale.
3.
The pouring rain intensified.
The blackening rain had now transformed into thick muddy water, oozing down. The two standing directly in the wasteland looked up at the sky.
The sky was stained black.
The sky was covered in muddy water.
This was the second time facing the sky. Before the signs of a great calamity were about to descend, the two looked at each other.
Nod.
As Sara nodded, she released Kyle’s hand. Kyle took another step forward, and Sara clasped her palms together and prayed.
“Since the God looks upon us…”
This was a prayer she couldn’t recite back then.
Too busy fleeing in fear, the God didn’t answer her, and back then, Sara hadn’t fulfilled her duties as a saint.
“A miracle in this place.”
But not now.
Sara was reciting a prayer. Even if the stars do not answer her prayer, even if they do not shed starlight, Sara truly thought that way.
She no longer sings for the God.
No longer prays for the God.
She will sing only for Kyle and regard him as her one true God. Paradoxically, this was why the divine (???) that Sara embraced reacted to her prayer.
What emerged was not platinum starlight.
What emerged was a pure white glow.
Only with her own strength did she bless Kyle. Looking at the pure white particles enveloping her body, Kyle chuckled.
“Thank you, Sara.”
Kyle spread his hands wide.
With his open hands, he stretched forward.
Listening to the sound of the pouring rain, Kyle closed his eyes. He recalled the inner sword (?).
It took the form of a holy sword.
It was the sword he had wielded for years.
Kyle gripped the sword tightly. His hand was gripping the air, but the familiar sensation of the hilt remained. Kyle opened his eyes.
In his hand, he held the holy sword.
The scabbard hung empty at his waist.
Kyle unsheathed it and tossed the scabbard to the ground. There was no way this newly drawn sword would ever return to its scabbard. Determined for the last time, Kyle breathed deeply.
The rain continued pouring down.
Water flowed along the grooves.
The muddy water flowed, becoming a river. Following the remnants of a long-ruined kingdom, the muddy water began to churn.
Then, with a splash.
Something surged from the muddy water.
As the black sky shook, something crashed down. What had surged and fallen like a chain reaction formed shapes from the muddy water, which transformed into a curse.
The demon who had lost his right to be king (?)
A集合 of cursed hands, thousands upon thousands, revealed themselves here.
Creeak, creak, creak….
The sound of creaking, almost tearing, resonated.
As the world crumbled around them, Kyle stood firmly on the ground with a smirk. In the past, he had dropped his sword and run away clumsily…
‘Not now.’
What he had discarded was the scabbard, and what he held was a single, finely sharpened sword.
Clenching.
Kyle set his stance, gripping the sword tightly.
In order to achieve the feat he had once turned away from, to prove he had changed from then, to show the ones watching him now.
「A hero is a being created by the world.」
「If someone finds solace in him, if the path he walks is just, and if he seeks to return light to everyone….」
To become the hero defined by the first hero.
「That person is the hero.」
Kyle Toven gripped the sword.
“I am.”
Kyle raised the sword.
“I am Kyle Toven.”
The tip of the sword aimed at the false god who had descended to this world.
“Remember. This is the name of the man who will slay you.”
The shadows surged.
Within the flooding shadow, a small star glimmered.
A small star, yet never to be overshadowed.
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