I Went to Find the Heroine I Saved Ten Years Ago.
“……………………… 10 years.”
The morning breeze brushed against her as she barely managed to utter her first words to me.
A short sentence, but I could intuitively understand the whirlwind of emotions swirling within it.
Joy. Happiness. Anxiety. Impatience. And even fear that seemed ready to shatter at any moment.
Her expression changing every moment conveyed her unstable heart.
First, let’s hear her out with some plausible excuses. It wasn’t intentional.
The fact that she had been looking for me all these 10 years was something I had no idea about.
I had things I needed to do. It was a task and covenant bestowed by the gods, one that reflected my will in the slightest. Though it was a very natural thing to say, I had no choice.
Chains filled my life. I knew that if I didn’t fulfill them, it would lead to results I couldn’t bear on my own terms, so I dragged myself along with the covenant for a long time without even thinking of refusing.
The covenants given by the goddess were trials close to those that no ordinary human could overcome.
I can’t summarize everything that happened in between, but I should mention at least a brief fact: the pilgrimage path where a pubescent boy who hadn’t yet undergone a gender transformation dragged a sword that didn’t match his hand and forced himself up was long and treacherous.
No need to ruminate on the past events. The important thing is now.
Ten years have passed.
Ten years. Yes, exactly 10 years.
In short, after a long journey of 10 years, I finally became free.
It might sound like an enormous achievement, but in reality, it wasn’t.
What I was given for fulfilling all the covenants with the goddess was nothing but an immeasurable amount of time. Time left over. Money… not much, but the saved amount was sufficient to indulge in luxury for a while.
The first thing I wanted to do when I found freedom after 10 years was…
“……… None.”
… Unfortunately, there was nothing.
My own time after such a long absence. I had run straight ahead for this day alone, but upon reaching the destination, everything felt overwhelmingly grand.
What freedom meant was nothing more than being able to sleep as much as I wanted. With nothing to do, I vented my small revenge by spitting on the priests in the temple of the god who forced me into the covenant, and that was just two days ago.
The god who had put me through trials was the goddess of wisdom, Astasia.
When I spat on the statue of Astasia, the reaction was immediate. On the white marble, straight letters were engraved in a flowing manner.
(‘Huhu… I apologized for the apology, but you really have a long tail, huh.’)
An unrealistic scene where words moved at will on a stone, but we’ve communicated this way countless times so far. No need to guess who it is.
“Does that mean it’s over? If you’ve used up an innocent little kid like me for 10 years, ruined my life, and then there’s no reward? As the so-called goddess of wisdom, didn’t you prepare something like that?”
I voiced my complaints into the empty air, and not long after, words appeared on the marble.
(‘Reward, of course. I prepared that much. Come this way. I’m not a stingy goddess.’)
At first, I imagined simple things like money, jewels, or gold. No matter how much of an enemy the goddess was, she was still a goddess. She couldn’t have failed to read the desires of a mere human like me.
I didn’t desire great honor or positions. Money, rest, and a suitable home would suffice.
Since my tasks were done, I had a small expectation that I could live worry-free relying on the goddess’s grace. Like the compensation I had worn out my body for over 10 years.
My expectations were shattered the moment that ‘god’ threw me into a quiet city.
I felt that something had gone wrong.
(‘There is someone waiting for you in this city, thinking of you in the same place for a long time. Go meet them directly.’)
“Someone? Waiting? What does that mean… No, what about the money? Gold? Compensation?”
(‘Relationships can’t be bought with money. This is the relationship that wouldn’t have been naturally cut off if it weren’t for me. This is a reward greater than gold.’)
I didn’t reply directly, but in my heart, I was chewing on hundreds of ways to insult this goddess of wisdom.
For a moment, I thought of just ignoring and leaving, but I didn’t have the will for that.
The goddess, as she had always done, taught me the direction I needed to go and the person I needed to meet.
In the end, I followed the goddess’s guidance while being reluctant.
I never thought that the destination I reached after going around would be here.
“I’m waiting for you? There’s no way someone like that exists…”
While sighing heavily as I climbed the uphill road that day, the very first day I formally retired, that’s when I met the ‘her’ the goddess had spoken of.
“…………….”
After settling the covenant, I had met many people, and she was one of them, Elysia.
I remembered it as just a fleeting encounter. It was true that her situation at the time was pitiable, and true that I helped her. Since the purpose of the covenant was that, I couldn’t say I had good intentions. At least, I couldn’t use grand and holy expressions like ‘salvation’.
But for Elysia, ‘the incident 10 years ago’ seemed to be remembered differently from how I remembered it.
That night when we reunited after 10 years. I could clearly tell. She had changed somehow compared to 10 years ago.
I wanted to poke many parts, but first, let’s pick one: right. First, the girl I knew never cried…
“Sorry. So, don’t leave… Please. ‘Back then’ and ‘now’ too, I was wrong.”
But… why… are you crying?
What are you apologizing for?
It’s been 10 years. I had solved her misfortune entangled with the covenant and the pilgrimage path.
After finishing that day’s work, I immediately left the place. No special thoughts. I just finished the business and left for the next covenant. I couldn’t say goodbye because the situation didn’t allow it at the time.
Even now, or rather, until just yesterday, I hadn’t thought deeply about my choice 10 years ago. I ran away after saving? I never thought that. Even if I helped, it was an extension of the covenant, and I had urged her to leave right away.
But she, Elysia, was crying and sitting down in front of me after 10 years.
In the end, after helping her, I left without saying goodbye, and after 10 years, I became a person whose face was ambiguous.
But, no, that’s why her reaction was even harder to understand. Crying? Why? Waiting? Why?
“Eh? Please. Don’t go yet…. Just one day. Even if it’s troublesome, can you stay here for just one more day? If you stay for just one more day, I won’t bother you anymore. Sor, sorry. We met after 10 years, and I didn’t recognize you like me and caused a fuss, making you feel bad? Sorry. I was wrong.”
Was this the tone and atmosphere from the beginning?
No, no. There was no way. ‘The villainess’? Where did the ‘witch’ go?
The girl I knew never showed such emotional sides. Or perhaps it was just because she had gone out for a morning walk and was in a sentimental mood?
The little girl from 10 years ago had grown into a beautiful lady, but that’s a side issue. The important thing was her personality and impression. I remember that at least clearly.
She was much more sharp-tongued and arrogant before, and despite her quick temper, she was a girl who didn’t particularly like me. The villainess. And the witch.
She was someone who bought fear from many at the academy, envy from many more, and finger-pointing from even more. She didn’t bend to anyone. She didn’t compromise with anyone. The sharp expression and frozen tone of the villainess Elysia always maintained a lofty attitude and dignity.
But the girl who had been like that was now, 10 years later, with a face that was hard to tell if she was pale, cool, smiling, or crying, and a strangely powerless voice, muttering with dead eyes.
“Eh… I found you now…”
“……….”
“Sorry. From now on… I won’t make any mistakes. I’ll do everything. I won’t miss anything. So…”
“………….”
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry don’t leave…”
What happened in the 10 years?
I lightly brushed aside the situation without realizing its seriousness and recalled the past.
The first time I met her was 10 years ago, when I was just starting to travel the world fulfilling ‘covenants with the goddess’.