“So, what I’m saying is.”
The office bathed in moonlight.
Shimmering light brown hair and half-open green eyes glint under the moonlight. Those glimmering green eyes are certainly alluring, and her whispering voice is almost sweet.
Saint Natida.
Usually, she walks around with tired eyes and holds a cigarette, hunched over, but… she is a striking figure in her own right, one who wouldn’t fall behind even when standing next to an elf.
“Shall we date?”
The woman softly confessed.
With the late night and moonlight as the backdrop, her whisper held double the power.
“Let’s be in love, shall we?”
Even those who usually had no interest in her might glance back once, and even those who had no affection might nod absentmindedly at such a sweet confession…
“…”
Yet, the person on the receiving end of the confession, Lac, held an expression that was perfectly calm. Sitting cross-legged on the table, Natida looked down at him. Lac tilted his head and opened his mouth.
“Do you need the Holy Sword?”
Lac reached out into the air.
“If you need the Holy Sword, just say so. Don’t joke around like that.”
As if used to this, Lac pulled out the Holy Sword with an impassive expression. The platinum sword shined brightly, pushing away the moonlight and darkness that had seeped into the room.
“Aah….”
Natida, blinded by the Holy Sword’s brilliance, covered her eyes with a small voice, mumbling.
“No, what’s this reaction? That’s a confession! I’ve set the mood and everything, and your response is about needing a Holy Sword? Isn’t that a bit too much?”
A long sigh escaped her lips. Lac tilted his head at Natida, who looked disappointed.
“Wasn’t that asking for the Holy Sword?”
“No! You really have no sense.”
“Well then…”
“No, don’t put it away.”
Natida suddenly grabbed Lac’s wrist tightly.
Eventually, holding the Holy Sword, she began to grumble.
“While the Holy Sword is a legal form of drug, do you really think I confessed because of this? That’s just too much.”
“Isn’t it more than once?”
Lac blinked in surprise and continued.
“This is already the fifth confession.”
“…Don’t you feel any excitement or anything?”
“Not at all. More confused than excited.”
“Wow. Really too much.”
“What even is dating? I don’t get that sort of thing.”
It wasn’t a mocking tone.
With a tone that seemed genuinely confused, Lac continued. Due to a lack of interaction with women and having no interest in that regard, he resembled his master in that aspect.
“What does love even mean?”
What’s love and what’s affection again?
Holding hands and strolling down the street? Eating together? Instead, Lac would swing an axe one more time. With a warrior’s brain made up of nothing but strength, training, and growth, he had no room for romantic thoughts.
“Better off swinging an axe one more time.”
While others date, Lac breaks another Demon Lord’s head with an axe. That meant there was no room for distractions.
“Wow…”
At his resolute response, Natida appeared dumbfounded. She sighed and let her hair down, which she had previously tied up.
“How could someone like you be like that in dreams…?”
“Dream?”
“Yes, I mean dreams.”
Natida muttered as she got off the table.
“I saw it in a dream.”
“What do you mean?”
“I dreamt that I was dating you. It was so romantic in the dream…”
Pop, clack.
Holding the Holy Sword and with a cigarette in her mouth, Natida skillfully lit it with one hand. Then she exhaled a long stream of gray fog and continued speaking.
“Lately, I keep dreaming, and you appear in them?”
“Me?”
“Yes. It’s a bit too vivid to call it a dream.”
Natida chuckled as she lit her cigarette.
“Lac, how long have we known each other?”
“It’s been a little over three months, so it must be over 100 days.”
“100 days, huh…”
She exhaled a long puff of smoke.
“Then we just have to wait another 630 days.”
“…630 days?”
“I’ve known the Lac from my dream for over two years. So all I have to do is wait until then…”
What nonsense is that?
In fact, since Natida often said whimsical things, Lac merely chuckled and stood up.
“Where are you going, Lac?”
“I’m going for reconnaissance.”
Just as Lac was about to head outside while putting on his coat, he suddenly reached out his hand to Natida. Natida blinked and placed her hand on his outstretched one.
“What are you doing?”
“You reached out your hand, so…”
“No, I mean asking for a sword.”
“…”
Receiving the Holy Sword back, Lac paused at the door and briefly looked back. Watching Natida roll around on his bed, he blurted out.
“What did I do two years later?”
It was a question about the dream.
Natida replied shortly.
“You confessed to me.”
“Must have been a bad dream.”
“No, I’m serious.”
2.
In the deep night, within the office where Lac is absent.
Natida sat on Lac’s bed and closed her eyes. When she closed them, the landscape from her dream emerged.
…Lac probably didn’t notice.
For a saint, dreams are never about light matters. That’s just how it is.
A saint’s dreams are intertwined with prophecy.
Possibilities of future events, things that should have happened, things that will happen. A saint peeks into the future through dreams. However, Natida could not tell if what she saw was the future or simply a product of her imagination.
It was too specific to just be a dream.
And for it to be a prophecy seemed absurd.
‘…Initially, the premise itself was incorrect.’
The scene she saw in her dream.
Rather than a prophecy, it was more like…
‘A completely different future.’
In that future, Natida was still imprisoned by the church. Acting as the church’s saint, she was drugged, living on the edge. A room where nobody came to visit. Living in a state of half-dreams, drugged.
「Are you the saint?」
Someone came to find her.
「I am Lac von Grace.」
He reached out his hand to Natida, pulling her from her dark room, saying:
「I need you.」
「So that you can stand by his side.」
And the countless futures she saw after that.
A future completely different from now.
「You must escape.」
And…
「This is my stage.」
The most terrible disaster she faced in that future. As Natida reminisced about the hazy memories, her shoulders shivered briefly.
“…Must have been a bad dream, huh.”
She recalled Lac’s words from just a moment ago.
Thinking over that, Natida chuckled softly.
“Hope it really is just a bad dream.”
Because in that dream, Lac died.
He sacrificed himself to save her from an unknown swordsman. Remembering Lac’s final words from the dream, Natida sighed deeply.
“Honestly, I couldn’t help but confess.”
*
“That reminds me, Cardi.”
“What is it, Raniel?”
“I heard something strange from Belnoa, you know? Specifically, it’s something I heard from the god Belnoa serves.”
“The god Belnoa serves? Oh, you mean the Lord of Shadow Dragons?”
“Yeah. That one. He said to me.”
“What was that?”
“He said he saw the future. More specifically, he said he saw a future that should have happened, and no matter how I looked at it…”
Raniel smiled bitterly.
“It was a tale of the Goddess of Ashes.”
“…Didn’t that future disappear?”
“Yeah, it must have vanished. It should have been forgotten, but because the Goddess of Ashes intervened in the past, even a star wouldn’t be able to see that future.”
The Lord of Shadow Dragons spoke.
No prophet could see the future any longer. What those with miracles like future vision and prophecy could glimpse was specifically the future that the Goddess of Ashes tread upon.
“Even if it’s a crazed lizard.”
Well, Raniel said, folding his arms behind his back.
“Even so, no one can see the future anymore, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Miracles of prophecy aren’t that common, after all.”
It’s true. For an ordinary human, receiving prophecies is an extraordinary miracle. Only a handful of priests throughout centuries have been granted the miracle of prophecy.
“And, from the start…”
Raniel sighed.
“A miracle like prophecy or foresight only happens in ‘that case’. That’s how it’s always been.”
“True. Prophecies are only granted by the star in extreme crises.”
In centuries of history, the prophecy’s miracle was always granted at the appearance of the most feared disaster. A physical embodiment of death.
Ganikalt, the Death’s Blade.
“Unless that guy, Ganikalt, shows up, the miracle of prophecy ain’t gonna happen. And he won’t move until the day he comes.”
At Cardi’s words, Raniel nodded in agreement.
“Absolutely.”
3.
Days later, guests arrived at Krempelia.
Having received prior notification, Lac and Natida, the commanders of Krempelia, proceeded to meet the arriving guest. Opening the door to the reception room, where the guest was waiting…
“…”
Lac was faced with a man nodding off.
A very familiar face.
He was the one who had once taught Lac martial arts and is more famously known as the Hero’s aide.
“Knight Kalt?”
The Sword Master and the Guarder.
Kalt, the Tracker, opened his eyes slowly.
With bloodshot eyes, he directed his gaze towards Lac, then at Natida, who was closely standing beside him. Seeing Natida linked arm-in-arm with Lac caused Kalt’s expression to crumple.
‘Those damn kids…’
He barely swallowed the words that almost slipped out. If he said that, he would become just another boring senior like his “great” predecessor.
“It’s been a long time… Lac.”
Kalt managed to greet them, bowing his head deeply.
“Phew…”
Lately, he felt like he was just increasing in sighs.
After letting out a long sigh, Kalt rummaged through his pockets to pull something out. It was a cigarette case, but even shaking it upside down only dust came out.
“What the hell…”
As Kalt stared hopelessly at the empty cigarette case, Natida, who had been standing next to Lac, suddenly sighed.
“Isn’t that Taari200?”
Natida quickly approached Kalt, pointing at the empty case, exclaiming in admiration.
“Taari200 is good, isn’t it? It’s strong and really wakes you up. The aftertaste is smooth, which I like too. You have good taste.”
“…You know Taari200?”
It’s famously known for being incredibly harsh.
Kalt, who smokes it to wake himself up due to its bitterness, would expect ordinary folks—even casual smokers—to shake their heads.
“Yes, I do. I smoke it often too.”
This girl was claiming she also smokes that potent cigarette. Kalt blinked in surprise as Natida rummaged through her pocket and pulled something out. What she pulled out was a wooden box.
When Natida opened the lid of the magically expanded wooden box and shook it upside down, a pile of cigarette cases fell onto the table.
Calming agents, Taari200, and various other famous harsh cigarettes formed a mountain on the table.
“…”
Kalt looked at Natida with an expression of disbelief. Suddenly, he seemed to understand something about her: the girl glued to Lac’s side who was enamored with cigarettes and drugs.
“…What’s your name?”
“I’m Natida. Nice to meet you, Knight Kalt.”
Natida handed Kalt a Taari200.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from the Hero.”
Looking into Kalt’s tired eyes, Natida smiled wryly. That bitter smile mixed sympathy and empathy equally.
“Sounds like you’ve been through a lot. Really.”
So, the Hero is still the same, huh?
If you need any other cigarettes, please feel free to take and smoke them. As Natida mumbled this, Kalt squinted as if it was blinding.
“How interesting.”
Kalt accepted the cigarette case and nodded.
“…Definitely the saint.”
The cigarette graciously given by the saint was now being clutched tightly by Kalt.
