Chapter 335
Chapter 335
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 335
Chapter Title: Given Time (4)
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“...Are you really going to do it?”
“I have to.”
“Is there no other way?”
“There isn't.”
“You're certain, then.”
“I have to be. I searched and searched for another path, and that's how I ended up here. We can't delay any longer. There was never much time to begin with.”
“...I see.”
“Now I think I understand how you feel, Cardi. There's no such thing as the best choice. Everywhere you look, there's only the lesser evil. At least in this case.”
“You've become quite pragmatic.”
“That's what happens after you've tasted failure.”
......
...
......
“So that's how it turned out in the end.”
“Yeah. This is my last chance.”
“...I'll cooperate.”
“Thank you. Always.”
“I should be the one thanking you. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.”
“Don't apologize. You may not realize it, but you've helped me more than you know.”
“You don't mean...”
“Oh, time's up. I'll be going now. I still have places I need to visit.”
“Wait.”
She turned back.
Cardi looked at her and spoke.
“One last thing—may I ask?”
Cardi asked.
“What did you do with the ancient dragon?”
The answer came immediately.
“I killed it.”
She smiled.
“It was getting on my nerves.”
It was the smile of someone broken.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Every day was grueling.
Tick, tock—the hallucinated sound echoed as Lania let time slip by. Listlessly, pointlessly. With each passing moment, her eyes grew duller.
Her blue eyes lost their light.
The whispers of betrayal that rang in her ears every night now echoed endlessly, day and night, without cease.
Give up. Wouldn't it be easier if you just did?
Lania refused to choose the path of betrayal, clinging to her humanity until the very end... but the relentless whispers blurred her eyes more and more.
Isn't it hard?
Do you really need to hold out like this?
Your body hurts, enduring each day is tough—why not just let go? You deserve to.
You.
No, I deserve to.
I've suffered enough. Accomplished enough.
I've already retired. I have the right to live differently now. No one will blame me for whatever I choose.
‘...No one will blame me.’
I've done my part.
‘I...’
The echoes in her ears dulled her mind. Her eyes clouded over. In that hazy state, like dreaming while awake... Lania barely held onto her senses.
What she recalled was Gallahal.
All those who had given their lives for her sake.
The burden they entrusted to her—she would not let it go until the very last moment.
‘The path I've walked.’
She could not deny the path she had taken.
Until the final instant, she had to remain human. Countless people had believed in the human Raniel van Trias and staked their lives on it. Lania told herself she couldn't render that in vain.
Suppressing the seed of madness.
Shaking off the temptation of betrayal.
Enduring day by day with her broken body.
Yet no matter how strong Lania's will, she couldn't keep this up forever. Even the sturdiest walls crumble eventually, and nothing is infinite before the flow of time. Lania was breaking down, little by little.
She was going mad.
Lania realized it.
Tick, tock.
The ticking in her ears grew louder.
Tick, tock.
On one such day, as time dragged on, something caught Lania's eye. A letter. A message connected to Kyle Toben. She snatched the letter from the shelf.
“......”
Head bowed, Lania stared at the hand clutching the letter. Her ashen, brittle hair cascaded over the paper. Kyle Toben. The man who had set her on the path of a sage.
No letter from him yet.
Still, no word.
That fact stirred complex emotions in Lania.
‘...No.’
Actually, it was a relief.
That's what Lania decided to think.
She hadn't told Kyle about her condition anyway. Lania considered his silence a blessing. She didn't want him to see her like this.
Better that way, she thought.
She hoped Kyle never came looking for her until the day she died. Instead of remembering her pathetic, wretched end, she wanted him to recall her in her radiant days.
“......”
Lania stared at the letter.
Again and again.
Gazing at the blank paper brought back the promise she'd made with Kyle. Slowly, she reached out and opened the drawer. Inside was a pendant.
Clink.
The pendant she'd found in her hometown, reduced to ashes.
Before that pendant, Kyle had vowed never to forget the tragedy that befell her home.
「I'm going to defeat the Demon King.」
「You and me, we'll get revenge together.」
A promise made in jest.
A promise ultimately unkept.
Recalling it, Lania fiddled with the pendant. Her pale fingers wiped the dust from it.
“If I die...”
If I die so miserably.
Maybe Kyle would keep that promise on his own. After his rematch with the Sword of Death, Kyle had changed. This new Kyle might try to honor it again.
In that case.
Wouldn't her death leave something behind?
‘What nonsense.’
Lania felt disgust at herself for even thinking it. How low would she sink before death? Scolding herself, she set the pendant down.
“I've lost my mind.”
As she muttered and moved to put the letter away, something flashed. Not the letter she held, but another one.
『I have something to say.』
『Come to me.』
A letter from Cardi.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
The ancient elf, Cardi.
Cardi van Armiel.
He had lived as a great sage, always seeking the best answer. Not a lesser evil to avoid the worst, not a reluctant compromise... but the optimal solution everyone could accept.
Cardi yearned for that answer.
For hundreds of years, and still now. He could only yearn. Dreaming of what lay beyond his reach.
「There is no best ending.」
「At least not in this case.」
「So, we choose the lesser evil.」
Cardi mulled over the words she had left behind. Recalling how she had come to wear the same expression as him, he bit his lip.
“...Hoo.”
Still, he would do what needed to be done.
So resolving, Cardi exhaled briefly and adjusted his robe. He now stood before the mansion in the exact same appearance as when he had founded the Ashen Mage Tower in this kingdom.
The robe of the first Tower Lord.
The guise he had used back then.
In that form, Cardi knocked on the mansion door. Soon, Rosel opened it. He had heard from Raniel that a guest was coming, but not the details.
As a result, his eyes widened the moment he saw the figure at the door.
“...Who are you?”
“I've come to see a distant junior.”
The first Ashen Tower Lord.
Before that enigmatic, secretive being, Rosel didn't know how to react. Cardi waved it off lightly, signaling it was unnecessary, and stepped inside.
On the way to Raniel's room, Cardi paused and turned to Rosel.
“...It would be polite to explain to you.”p> Since you're like a parent to that child.
“Let's talk for a moment.”
Cardi spoke with Rosel separately.
The conversation was brief.
Rosel's eyes narrowed as he heard it through. It was hard to accept, and not something he could easily approve. As he opened his mouth to raise his voice—
But.
“Please.”
Seeing Cardi bow his head to him, Rosel had no choice but to close his mouth. This towering senior, the great first Tower Lord, was bowing and pleading with him.
“It's the only way.”
There was no lie in his voice.
Rosel pressed his forehead hard.
“For that child...”
“I won't tell her.”
“Why?”
“She said it can't be done that way.”
Cardi said, gazing at the firmly shut door.
“It'll be cruel, but please play along.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “......”
Entering through the door, Cardi saw Lania.
Lania slowly turned her head.
The moment he took in her withered, lifeless form, Cardi's gaze wavered. It reminded him of the final moment he had faced.
「I'll believe in you, Armiel.」
Gleria's image kept surfacing.
Gnashing his teeth as he recalled the promise he couldn't keep, Cardi steadied his breathing. Now wasn't the time for that. He composed himself slowly.
“Raniel.”
“Yes.”
Lania looked at Cardi.
It wasn't just his imagination—her face seemed stranger than ever today. Meeting her hazy eyes, Cardi spoke.
“...I've come to help you with a few things.”
“Help?”
“You look in bad shape.”
Cardi sat beside Lania.
He placed vials from his robe on the shelf one by one.
“Don't just lean back—lie down properly.”
“...I'm sitting because it's hard to get up once I'm down. Why?”
“You can't sleep well sitting up.”
Cardi forcibly removed the pillow between her back and the bed, then half-dragged her to lie down properly. So she could rest well.
“...What are you doing?”
Cardi dangled a reagent in front of her.
“I can't fix your soul, but I can help mend that body. Wouldn't it be better if you could at least move it?”
“...You can fix it? You said there was no way just recently.”
“I found one along the way.”
Lania blinked.
Her eyes still wandered like in a dream, but a faint spark of hope glimmered there. Her lips curved into a small smile.
“...Really?”
A frail voice.
Cardi's hand, shaking the vial, flinched at the question. A change she would have noticed before, but not now. He exhaled briefly and resumed shaking it.
“...I don't lie.”
Lania smiled.
“Cardi.”
“What?”
“Should I learn alchemy too?”
“Enough nonsense—close your eyes. You'll feel better after a good sleep.”
Cardi uncorked the well-shaken vial.
He set it by her head, then opened the rest and placed them beside her.
Hiss...
A scentless mist like fog filled the room thickly. Lania's breathing steadied with her eyes closed, soon turning to soft, even snores.
“Hoo...”
Confirming she was asleep, Cardi let out a long breath. Of course, everything he'd just said was a lie.
The smoke filling the room.
It wasn't medicine to improve her condition. Just a sleep aid to let the sick rest deeply—the strongest kind.
‘...I never thought I'd use this like this.’
There was a time he drowned himself in sleep aids to meet old comrades even in dreams. Each time he grew tolerant, he brewed stronger ones. This was from back then. He knew its potency well.
So Lania wouldn't wake for a while.
And when she opened her eyes again...
Everything would be over.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
Late at night.
Starlight seeped into the room.
The sleep aid had fully absorbed into Lania over time. Cardi looked out the window. From the leaking starlight, he read the traces of the contract.
It's time.
Thinking so, Cardi opened the window.
He opened the room door, then the mansion door.
Rosel sat silently on the sofa. After some time passed, someone appeared suddenly at the open door. Without a sound.
...That was how superhumans moved.
They could infiltrate anywhere undetected if they wished.
“You've come.”
To the superhuman at the door.
To the human who had reached the same realm as his old comrades, Cardi spoke.
“It's been a long time, Kyle Toben.”
The Hero, Kyle Toben.
He narrowed his eyes as he faced Cardi.