Chapter 354
Chapter 354
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 354
Chapter Title: Now, Forward (2)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The carriage rattled onward.
Inside the jolting carriage, Raniel simply stared out the window, not sparing Remia so much as a glance or a single question. The interior was deathly silent, with no conversation passing between them.
Only the occasional thump as the carriage shook.
Raniel had opened her mouth only once, right when Remia had asked to accompany her.
"You might die."
That was it. After uttering those words, Raniel had remained utterly silent.
...Which was only natural.
Raniel van Trias found Remia's presence uncomfortable. She didn't particularly pity Remia for losing Kyle and falling into despair, nor did she care about the changes in her that had only begun after the loss.
Perhaps she was deliberately refusing to care.
She was too busy dealing with her own issues right now.
Raniel had no room for leisure.
How to confront Kyle, now turned into a disaster. How strong he had become. What she could accomplish with her current body. There was too much to think about, leaving no space for other thoughts.
Thump.
Even amid the shaking carriage, Raniel didn't stir. She merely gazed out the window with eyes fixed on some distant point.
"......"
Remia stole sidelong glances at the silent Raniel. Her appearance was so different from what she remembered. Even as a man, Raniel had been strikingly handsome, but her current form was incomparable.
'...I didn't get a proper look at her in the North.'
Up close, it was clear...
Humans often used the idiom "elf-like beauty" for stunning women. To Remia, an elf herself, it was amusingly ridiculous, but for the girl before her, even that fell short.
Bluish eyes reflected in the window.
Ashen hair flowing with luster.
As Remia gazed at her entranced, she suddenly noticed platinum particles rising in Raniel's eyes. Remia knew that light.
Platinum starlight.
It was the starlight Kyle possessed.
The starlight Kyle had. Now held by Raniel. The transformed Kyle. The information from the Great Ancestor. Piecing it all together, Remia murmured with a sigh.
"...So, Kyle really did try to save you."
At that moment, Raniel's shoulders twitched. She slowly turned her head from the window.
"What?"
"Kyle ended up like that trying to save you, right? That's what it looks like to me."
Remia let out a sigh.
"Thinking back, it was strange. That day, you were in a situation where dying wouldn't have been odd... but shortly after Kyle stepped out of the tent, you were suddenly fine."
"...What?"
Raniel narrowed her eyes.
What did that mean?
This was information she didn't know.
"What are you talking about?"
"The day we first encountered the Demon King. When you returned to the tent, you were in a state you wouldn't survive the night. You know that better than I do."
Remia spoke calmly.
Raniel furrowed her brow. True, back then, the backlash from sacrificing half her lifespan had laid her up for a while.
...But on the brink of death?
"That's..."
Raniel groaned.
Looking back now, something did feel off. Mages who traded with the stars in exchange for their lifespan always ended up flawed. Their souls took damage from bearing immense power.
Kelrhalim went mad.
Countless other mages ended up worse.
But what about her, who had offered up half her lifespan at once in the battle with the Demon King? Her soul had worn down... but that was it. And even that had fully recovered now.
Stars, starlight, the deal.
And Kyle's contract.
Raniel's eyes narrowed. Realizing something, her pupils shook violently.
"That night."
Even as this dawned on her, Remia continued.
"That night, Kyle went out of the tent alone. And he looked up at the sky and said something."
Remia tapped her ear.
"My hearing's good, so I heard it."
"...What did he say?"
"I don't remember exactly. Something about making a contract. And right after that, your condition improved noticeably."
Raniel groaned.
An anguished ah.
What surfaced was their recent conversation in the North. When she'd told Kyle to break the contract immediately, he'd said he'd already received something "first."
He'd already received it first.
So he couldn't break the contract.
The contract Kyle made was to save her from the start. Figuring out what he'd received as advance payment wasn't hard now. Raniel bit her lip hard.
'...From back then?'
Was that where it began?
Raniel's expression twisted. She swept a trembling hand over her face.
"Hoo..."
First, she had to set aside all those emotions. Feeling that she now had even more—and heavier—things to say to him, Raniel slowly steadied her breathing.
"...I wasn't really planning to blame you for it."
As Raniel composed herself, Remia murmured in a voice weaker than usual.
"Kyle and Sara risked their lives to achieve something, and it ended up saving you. I have no intention of blaming you for that. From the start..."
Remia let out a self-mocking scoff.
Not aimed at Raniel. At herself. In self-derision, Remia said,
"Do I even have the right to blame anyone?"
"......"
"While you were dying and Kyle and Sara were risking their lives, what do you think I was doing?"
Remia gripped her ear tightly.
"Lazing around in the North. Thinking of course Kyle would come back soon, planning what I'd do when he did."
"...You."
"I thought tomorrow was guaranteed. That we'd return to normal life. Like always. So naturally... but."
The expected future never came.
"And this is the result."
Everything had ended abruptly.
Now that it was over, Remia could no longer turn away. The moment she faced what she'd ignored, she felt crushing self-loathing.
"...I'm ashamed."
Remia murmured.
"It's frustrating. Embarrassing. I hate myself for wanting to run even now."
Remia, overflowing with self-love.
She clutched her long, pointed ears—symbol of her elven pride—as if to tear them off.
"If you realize your mistake, correct it."
What came to her was the tale from her Great Ancestor last night.
"Do something. Move with purpose. It may feel too late, but act anyway. An elf's life is excessively long."
An elf's life is long.
Long indeed, but the fleeting moment humans etch would torment her eternally. So, if you're to end it, do so properly.
"Give your all now."
"Do what you can."
Kardi.
The ancient sage.
"If you know shame, put it into action."
Had said to his distant descendant.
Mulling those words, Remia lifted her head. She looked at Raniel.
"That's why I followed you."
The wisest human she knew.
The human who shone brighter than any other.
Gazing at the one who would surely use her "usefully," Remia continued.
"Because if I follow you, I can do something. You're smarter than me. You know more, can do more. Right?"
Something Remia had never done in her life.
The arrogant elf who never acknowledged others lowered her head to Raniel.
"You might find me useless, but let me do something. It's late, but let me..."
"Sorry, but."
Raniel cut her off.
As if uninterested, propping her chin, Raniel raised her arm and pointed at Remia with spread fingers. More precisely, at the quiver Remia held.
"Useless? With those arrows, you're plenty useful."
What Raniel pointed to were moonlit arrows.
With a hollow laugh, Raniel said,
"If you were useless, you'd already be dead by my hand. You think I put up with your bullshit for fun?"
"...Because of the moonlit arrows?"
"You get it."
Remia let out a hollow laugh.
It sounded almost like comfort.
"You don't hate me?"
"Nah, I really fucking hate you. Pointy-ears."
Raniel smirked.
"You knew that?"
"I did act like a bitch to you. I'd hate me too."
"Wow, self-aware? If you're thinking of apologizing, don't bother. I won't accept it."
"Then why..."
"Hating you doesn't mean I don't recognize your skills."
That's why she'd tolerated the bullshit.
Her abilities were trustworthy, at least.
Annoyed at having to say it outright, Raniel roughly swept back her hair—a habit from before her body's change.
So much had changed, but that habit remained the same, making Remia chuckle in disbelief. As the laugh faded, she asked,
"...So, how do you plan to use me?"
About her role.
Raniel answered curtly.
"To clear the path."
"Clear the path?"
"Was gonna explain when we arrived... but looks like we're already here."
Raniel glanced out the window and crooked her finger.
The carriage's control circuits floated before her hand. She gripped them tight. The carriage screeched to an abrupt halt with a screeech.
Thump, crash!
The carriage shook violently and stopped, belching smoke. Ignoring the flustered Remia, Raniel kicked the door open.
Thud.
Stepping out first, Raniel crooked her finger again.
"What're you doing? Get out."
"...Aren't we taking the carriage?"
"Through there? In this?"
Raniel laughed hollowly and pointed outside.
Remia stepped out hesitantly and gasped at the sight. Eyes wide, she murmured,
"It wasn't like this a few days ago..."
The landscape had changed completely in just days.
A place they'd passed recently, but now the terrain itself was different. Severely warped land. And from deep in the twisted forest, the stench of beasts.
"...Beasts?"
"That's why we can't take the carriage."
"Weren't there no beasts here? Not near where the Demon King appeared."
"Normally, yeah."
Raniel cracked her knuckles and said,
"But they're in a hurry too, apparently. I'll explain on the way, so come on. We walk."
"...How far?"
"To the Eastern 0th Frontline."
Remia, who'd wandered battlefields for years, had never heard of it. 0th Frontline? They didn't number them like that.
Where was that?
Before she could ask, Raniel strode ahead. Remia slung her bow and followed. Into the twisted forest, the altered landscape.
They stepped toward the eerie vista.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
The Goddess of Ashes from 13 years in the future.
Raniel recalled her words.
"Beasts will swarm around Kyle, the disaster. Until he's complete, the beasts will protect him. An enormous number."
Chosen as the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, vessel of the Demon King. The Shadow was remaking Kyle into a puppet to follow its will... but that would take some time, the Goddess of Ashes had said.
And the beasts were buying that time.
A massive horde of beasts guarding the path to Kyle, as if protecting their master.
"Of course, I don't know the details."
"I wasn't in a position to grasp that then. Found out later."
"After completion?"
"He still led beasts, but by then a few weren't a hindrance... Huh? Why the look? Not bragging, it really was..."
...Some unnecessary info, but.
Anyway, countless beasts would gather around Kyle. The Goddess had said so, and in the last two days collecting intel, Raniel confirmed it.
"It's true, Senior."
"Reports of unusual beast movements have been coming in. And a special frontline has formed."
The frontline info via Kalt matched her words exactly.
Beasts converging on the eastern front.
They'd completely blockaded the path to the old Selleph Kingdom site, and as they gathered, the land rapidly魔化ed. Forests twisted, earth cracked and rose haphazardly.
As if permitting no approach.
"That's what you're seeing."
Crossing the twisted forest, Raniel shook her hand lightly. Beast blood splattered onto the rotten soil.
"Beyond this forest is the frontline formed to monitor their bizarre movements."
Eastern 0th Frontline.
A special frontline to investigate anomalies.
The old site of Selleph Kingdom.
To reach Kyle at its center, they had to cross the 0th Frontline. Naturally needing cooperation, Raniel had already contacted its commander.
"We're going to meet him now."
Crack, crunch!
Shattering a blocking twisted tree, Raniel stepped forward. A few more steps, and they exited the forest.
"Coming in quite flashy."
The outskirts of the twisted forest.
The entrance to the Eastern 0th Frontline.
A man waited there to greet them.
"Good to see you."
Perched on a rock, he waved at Raniel. Sunken black eyes. Dull gray hair. At a glance, like a battle-worn soldier... but his attire revealed his status.
White-based uniform embroidered with platinum thread.
The hero's regalia, permitted only to heroes.
"It's been a while. First time since Galrahal."
Hero Destel.
The hero bearing the moniker "The Craven."
The special frontline's commander exhaled shortly.
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