The life of an Elf is long. Whoosh
If they wish, they can live nearly forever, making humans seem like fleeting beings. To Elves, a human’s lifetime is but a gentle breeze that brushes against them momentarily.
Thus, the Elves say: do not love humans. You will only regret it. Chasing after a fleeting breeze is a foolish endeavor, they scoff.
However, there stands one Elf here.
An Elf who yearned for, loved, and trusted a human.
He chased the vanished breeze of those who lingered by his side for a thousand years. He spent countless nights in nightmares. Thus, this Elf must be the most foolish among the long history of Elves, yet simultaneously, the most pure.
“Gleria.”
Cardi van Armiel smiled.
“I’m sorry. It took a while.”
The foolish Elf, who had chased a single dream for a thousand years, had finally reached his intended destination.
—
Gleria blinked.
She was taken aback by the figure reflected in her retina. Was she seeing wrong? Was it just a dream?
“…Ar, Mi-el?”
With a trembling voice, she spoke.
The voice that slipped out through her quivering lips was thin, like it could be carried away by the wind. Yet, Cardi had chased that very breeze that passed by him. He could not possibly miss the voice before his eyes.
“You’re still calling me that way.”
Cardi smiled bitterly.
Even though a thousand years had passed, that smile had not changed a bit, causing Gleria’s eyes to waver even more.
“…How?”
Since she could not distinguish if this was reality or a dream, her words were filled with questions. Cardi pondered for a moment.
“How,” huh?
Was she asking how he got here?
In that case, he had plenty to say. He wanted to shout about the brutal role they had left him with during the thousand years he endured. He also wanted to resent it.
He had thoughts like that once.
He did, but…
“Well…”
From the moment he faced Gleria, that became inconsequential. Cardi looked down at Gleria, who was gazing at him. The thought of resentments evaporated the moment he saw her.
“With the help of many people, sacrificing a lot, I made it here.”
Cardi smiled faintly.
“Honestly, I didn’t know it would be this hard to see your face again.”
Saying so, Cardi slowly lowered his posture. He bent his knees and hunched over to look at Gleria at her height. Cardi’s golden eyes reflected in Gleria’s green eyes.
“It’s been a while, Gleria.”
Gleria’s lips opened and closed repeatedly.
With a sound that couldn’t quite form into words, she managed to utter a single sentence.
“…Am I dreaming?”
“Would you like it if it were a dream?”
Gleria shook her head.
Cardi reached out and lightly tapped Gleria’s head. What he felt was warmth. Exact sensations. Only then did Gleria realize that this was not a dream.
“Armiel, Armiel…”
“It’s not a name I particularly like. If possible, I’d prefer if you called me by my real name…”
Armiel chuckled.
“But hearing it from you isn’t so bad after all.”
*
The wind blew across the plains.
It was a gentle spring breeze. The warm wind tickled their ears, and the soft sunlight bathed the gentle hills. Cardi sat leaning against a tree on the hill, with Gleria resting her head on his shoulder, both gazing downward.
Beyond there should have been Arcadia.
What lay there was nothing but vast, open fields. As she watched the scenery, Gleria inadvertently smiled. It was a landscape she had recreated. That’s what Gleria was convinced of.
“Why, of all places, here?”
“It’s the place that remains the most memorable.”
What Cardi used was an artifact crafted similarly to the Holy Grail. An artifact that reflects the landscape a subject cherishes the most. Watching the sprawling fields, Cardi exhaled deeply.
He had so much to say, so many stories to share when they finally met, yet now that the moment had come, his mouth wouldn’t open.
“Armiel.”
As if she sensed Cardi’s demeanor, Gleria, with a light smile, opened her mouth. Leaning against Cardi’s shoulder, she spoke softly with her eyes closed.
“Did you receive the letter I sent?”
“…I did.”
I don’t resent you, I promise.
Recalling that sentence, Cardi let out a small groan.
“You said you wouldn’t resent me, even until the end.”
When reading that line, he recalled the past years. Although he couldn’t let go of the dream, he had also been unable to chase after it.
“There’s no way to save her.”
“There’s no way to revert a person devoted to the shadow. There’s no method to save her, no matter what.”
He had concluded that and tried to let go of the dream. Even so, he couldn’t let it go completely, clinging to the contract until the very end. In the face of helplessness and emptiness, Cardi spent a long, long time.
He couldn’t find the answers, yet he couldn’t let go either.
All he could do was wait for the hero who might eventually appear. When doubts about whether that hero would even show up crept in, Cardi disappeared deep within the royal capital, isolating himself in a hidden alley.
“Gleria, I…”
Cardi groaned.
“I’m not as great as you think. I didn’t spend a thousand years solely thinking of how to save you. I gave up, was discouraged, and fell apart.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. When I closed my eyes, the memories of you all surfaced, and when I opened them, the reality I saw— the reality without you— was painful, so I sometimes fell into dreams.”
Before the saint, the sinner confessed.
He confessed the sins he had committed over the thousand years.
“I once wanted to erase my memories, it was so painful. But I lacked the courage to do so, and ultimately gave up. Thus, I lived as if I were dying. I wasted time without even knowing if I was alive. For a long time.”
Cardi wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes.
“So, I…”
“Still, you didn’t give up.”
Gleria interrupted Cardi.
“You never let go of the contract until the end. You kept waiting for a successor who might appear someday. For a thousand long years.”
“…”
“That’s enough. What more could I wish for?”
Hiding her head in Cardi’s shoulder, she relaxed her body and smiled.
“In the end, we met like this again.”
“…Don’t you resent me?”
“How many times do I have to say it? I don’t resent you. I clearly remember what you said in front of me in Arcadia; how could I resent you?”
With a kind smile, Gleria suddenly exclaimed, as if remembering something.
“Armiel.”
“What is it?”
“Did you perhaps have a lover during this time?”
“What?”
“If you’ve dated another girl, I might feel a bit resentful. Be honest with me. I’ll excuse it just this once. After all, it’s been a whole thousand years, so I could allow one.”
“…Ha.”
At the unexpected comment that didn’t match the mood, Cardi let out a laugh. Well, thinking back, Gleria did have this personality. With that memory, Cardi couldn’t help but laugh.
“Stop laughing and tell me, okay?”
In Gleria’s serious inquiry, Cardi chuckled and replied.
“I haven’t. Not once.”
“…Really?”
“Every time I closed my eyes, your face popped up, and throughout a thousand years, I couldn’t even take a single nap, so there was no time to date anyone else.”
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Gleria let out a contented laughter. Murmuring “Hmm,” while nodding, Cardi smiled ruefully. He felt foolish for all the worries and hesitations he had gone through, trying to find the right words.
…After all, the time given isn’t long.
Shouldn’t they spend the last bit pleasantly?
With a lighter expression, Cardi’s face was met with Gleria’s smile. As if she had sensed it from the beginning.
“Indeed, we should spend the last moments happily. Not with complicated, hurtful stories.”
“…Did you know?”
“How could I not?”
His broken body. The body that should have died long ago was held together by shadows and the burden of a contract. The successor shattered the contract and burned all the shadows. Freed from everything, Gleria was heading towards complete death.
Not reincarnation, not the cycle of souls—complete death.
Sensing her crumbling soul and body, Gleria slowly raised herself. Moving her uncooperative legs, she faced Cardi directly.
“I’m glad to have met you again in the last moments given to me. It’s a miraculous thing.”
A chance she thought she’d never have again.
Let alone return as a saint and reunite with Cardi—she couldn’t have even dreamt of that. Now that it became reality, Gleria smiled brighter than ever.
“I have been saved. By the successor, by you.”
“…”
“At the end of a path I thought led only to ruin, I met you again. There couldn’t be a better ending.”
So, Gleria said.
“Let’s talk joyfully for the last moments. It’d be nice to reminisce about old times too. After all, both of us have probably spent the past thousands of years alone, reminiscing about the past…”
The wind blew, fluttering her hair. Her green eyes sparkled. With tears and laughter, she spoke.
“Shall we start again from the very beginning?”
“…Sure.”
Cardi replied.
“Elves are known for their good memory, after all.”
Thus, the two began to tell their stories.
Sharing the fleeting moments that passed while remaining by each other’s side, memories from the past that had not faded in the slightest. They laughed, sharing joyful recollections.
“Stop smoking that junk and listen when I scolded you for it, but I had no idea you’d actually quit.”
“After seeing you cough after burning all that junk with sacred magic, I lost all desire to smoke. Why’d you burn it, anyway? The smoke must have been dreadful.”
“Ah, honestly, I wanted to try smoking a little back then. You were puffing it like your life depended on it, and I was curious what it would be like.”
“Good grief…”
Trivial stories.
“What happened to that robe? The one you cherished? This one you’re wearing looks a bit different.”
“I tossed it to a whining junior. I got it back, but it was in shambles, so there was no use for it.”
“…Wasn’t that your cherished robe?”
“Well, let’s say it was put to good use.”
Trivial, trivial stories.
“Come to think of it, you were the one who confessed to me, right? I was so frustrated, I had to confess again. I wonder if you remember that.”
“I remember how you grabbed me by the collar, saying, ‘How could you confess like that?’ You were such a cruel one.”
“Seriously, who confesses in circuit theory metaphors? Spinning a line like that for an hour, then suddenly finding me like this…”
“Stop it. That’s a memory I’d like to erase.”
“Wow, look at how embarrassed you are.”
They laughed as they shared memories.
They joked and laughed together.
“I still remember the first time I met Ganikalt. I heard there was a knight wielding a long iron sword who hunted dozens of dragons…”
“Ah, I remember. I heard about a crazy man who said he wanted to cut the strongest castle walls in the world, so I rushed out.”
“That’s right, you did it later!”
“Yeah. I actually split those walls in half. The queen, seeing my reckless antics, appointed me as captain of the guard, telling me to quit acting crazy.”
“I’ve destroyed the walls once as a calamity too.”
“I can’t describe how ridiculous it was seeing that with my own eyes.”
Tales of comrades.
Stories of travel undertaken together.
The trials they overcame countless times, along with the large and small tales shared between trials.
“Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”
“Oh, there’s one thing, actually.”
Gazing at the half-faded Gleria, Cardi opened his mouth. Now that he thought about it, there was something he had wanted to ask.
“I’m curious about why you called me Armiel. Wouldn’t it be okay to reveal that reason soon?”
“Maybe after a lot of time has passed, when you won’t feel it’s so little?”
“…Are you saying you’ll tell me in a few hundred years?”
“Really, a thousand years have passed now.”
