Chapter 453
Chapter 453
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 453
Chapter Title: The Foolish Elf
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Elves live long lives. Excessively so.
For those who can live near-immortal spans if they so choose, humans are merely short-lived creatures. A human lifetime must seem like a fleeting breeze brushing past them.
That is why elves say not to love humans. You'll only regret it, they warn with a scoff. Isn't chasing after a wind that lingers briefly by your side before scattering foolishness?
Yet here stands one elf who defies that.
An elf who admired a human, loved them, and placed their trust in them.
He chased after the wind that had stayed by his side only to vanish, running for a thousand years. He endured a thousand sleepless nights. He spent that endless time trapped in nightmares. Thus, this elf must be the most foolish in the long history of elves—and at the same time, the purest.
"Gleria."
Cardi van Armiel smiled.
"Sorry. It took so long."
The foolish elf who pursued a single dream for a thousand years had finally reached his goal.
2.
Gleria blinked.
She was flustered by the figure reflected on her retinas. Was she seeing wrong? Was this a dream?
"...Ar, miel?"
Her voice trembled as she spoke.
The voice leaking through her quivering lips was faint, as if it might scatter in the wind. But Cardi had chased nothing but winds that brushed past him. There was no way he would miss the voice of the one before him now.
"You still call me that."
Cardi gave a bitter smile.
Her eyes shook a little more at that smile, unchanged even after a thousand years.
"...How?"
Still unable to discern if this was reality or a dream, her words came out as a question. Cardi pondered it briefly.
How, indeed.
Was she asking how he had made it here?
He had plenty to say then. He wanted to speak of the thousand years he had endured, to scream about how cruel the role they had left him with was. He wanted to resent them.
There had been times when he lived with those thoughts.
But...
"Well."
The moment he faced Gleria, it all became irrelevant. Cardi looked down at her gazing up at him. The instant their eyes met, any thought of resentment vanished.
"With the help of many people, sacrificing much to reach this place."
Cardi smiled faintly.
"It really was hard. I never imagined seeing your face again would be this difficult."
As he spoke, Cardi slowly lowered himself, bending his knees and waist to meet her at eye level. His golden eyes reflected in Gleria's green ones.
"It's been a long time, Gleria."
Gleria's lips parted and closed repeatedly.
She let out wordless groans before finally squeezing out a single phrase.
"...Am I dreaming?"
"Would you prefer it was a dream?"
Gleria shook her head.
Cardi reached out and lightly tapped her forehead. He felt warmth. A tangible sensation. Only then did Gleria realize—this was no dream.
"Armiel, Armiel..."
"I never liked that baptismal name. I'd prefer you call me by my real name if possible, but..."
Armiel smiled.
"Hearing it from you... it doesn't sound so bad."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A breeze swept across the field.
A spring zephyr. The warm wind tickling their ears and the languid sunlight bathed the gentle hill. Leaning against a tree on the hill, Cardi sat with Gleria resting her head on his shoulder as they gazed below.
There was no Arcadia to be seen beyond.
Just vast fields stretching out. Gazing at the landscape, Gleria let slip an unconscious smile. She had recreated this scene. So Gleria was certain.
"Why here, of all places?"
"This is the one etched deepest in my memory."
Cardi had used an artifact structured similarly to the Star Chalice. One that projected the landscape most precious to its target. He let out a long breath as he stared at the expansive fields.
He had so much he wanted to say, so many stories to share upon reunion—yet now that the moment had arrived, words failed him.
"Armiel."
As if sensing his mood, Gleria spoke first with a faint smile. Leaning on his shoulder, eyes closed, she whispered,
"Did you get the letter I sent?"
"...I did."
I don't resent you.
Cardi groaned softly as that line resurfaced.
"You said you didn't resent me, right up to the end."
Reading those words had made him recall the years gone by. Years where he couldn't let go of the dream, yet couldn't pursue it either.
「There's no way to save her.」
「No method exists to reverse a human offered to the Shadow. No way at all.」
He had concluded as much and nearly abandoned the dream. Yet he couldn't fully let go, clinging to the contract to the end in his powerlessness and emptiness. Cardi had spent that long, long time that way.
Unable to find an answer, unwilling to release it.
All he could do was wait for a hero who might one day appear—a prospect he even doubted. At that point, Cardi had secluded himself deep in the capital. He had imprisoned himself in a dingy alley.
"Gleria, the truth is..."
Cardi groaned.
"I'm not as great as you think. I didn't spend the thousand years solely thinking of ways to save you. I gave up, despaired, broke down."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. There were times when closing my eyes brought memories of you all that I longed for, but opening them revealed a reality without you—a tormenting reality—and I escaped into dreams."
Before the saintess, the sinner confessed.
He laid bare the sins he had committed over a thousand years.
"The pain was so great I even tried to erase my memories. But I lacked even the courage for that and gave up in the end. I lived as if dying. Wasted time without knowing if I was even alive. For so long."
Cardi brushed near his eyes.
"So, I..."
"But you didn't give up."
Gleria cut him off.
"You held onto the contract to the end. You kept waiting for that successor who might never come. For a full thousand years."
"......"
"That's enough. What more could anyone ask?"
With her head buried in his shoulder, body relaxed, she smiled.
"We ended up reuniting like this, after all."
"...You don't resent me?"
"How many times do I have to say it? I don't resent you. I remember what you said to me in Arcadia that day. How could I resent you?"
Gleria, smiling so kindly, suddenly cried "Ah!" and widened her eyes as if struck by a thought.
"Armiel."
"What."
"Did you have any lovers in the meantime?"
"What?"
"If you dated other women, I'd feel a little resentful. Be honest. I can overlook it once. A thousand years is a long time—I can be generous about one."
"...Hah."
Her words, mismatched to the mood, drew a hollow laugh from Cardi. Right—thinking back, this was Gleria's personality. The fond memory made him chuckle despite himself.
"Don't laugh—tell me."
To her serious probing, Cardi answered with a laugh.
"None. Not once."
"...Really?"
"Your face was all I saw when I closed my eyes. I couldn't even sleep a wink in a thousand years... no room for meeting someone new."
Pleased with his answer, Gleria smiled in satisfaction, nodding with a hum. Watching her, Cardi smiled bitterly. He felt foolish for all his agonizing over what to say.
...The time we have left isn't long anyway.
Shouldn't we at least enjoy the end?
Gleria smiled at Cardi's lightened expression, as if she had known all along.
"Right. We should enjoy the end. No complicated talk, nothing that hurts each other."
"...You knew?"
"How could I not?"
Her broken body—held together past its time by the Shadow and the contract's duty. The successor had shattered the contract and burned away every shadow. Freed from all, Gleria now headed toward true death.
Not reincarnation, nor the soul's cycle, but complete death.
Sensing her soul and body crumbling bit by bit, Gleria slowly rose. Moving her unresponsive legs, she faced Cardi directly.
"I'm glad to reunite with you in my final moments. It's a miracle."
An opportunity she had thought gone forever.
She had never dreamed of returning as a saintess to meet him again. Now that it was real, Gleria smiled brighter than ever.
"I've been saved. By the successor. By you."
"......"
"At the end of a path I thought led only to ruin, I reunite with you. What better conclusion could there be?"
So, Gleria said,
"Let's spend the end happily, sharing stories. Talking about the old days would be nice. Both of us have spent thousands of years alone, reminiscing about the past..."
The breeze tousled her hair. Her green eyes sparkled. Tears and smiles mingled as she spoke.
"Shall we start from the beginning, remember it all again?"
"...Yeah."
Cardi said.
"Elves have good memories, after all."
And so they began to talk.
Of the fleeting moments they had shared before parting. Of that brilliant past, unfaded in the slightest. They laughed sharing joyful memories. They smiled.
"I nagged you to quit smoking that pipeweed, but I never thought you'd actually burn it all."
"After I saw you coughing and hacking from incinerating it all with holy magic, I lost any desire to smoke. Why burn it, of all things? The fumes must've been awful."
"Ah, truth is, I wanted to try it back then. You were puffing away so fiercely—what could be so appealing?"
"Anyway..."
Trivial stories.
"That robe. What happened to your favorite one? This one's a bit different from what you're wearing."
"Tossed it to a whiny junior. He returned it, but he'd wrecked it so bad it was useless."
"...Wasn't it your favorite?"
"Might as well say it went to good use."
Trivial, trivial stories.
"Come to think of it, you were the one who confessed first, right? It was so frustrating I confessed again myself. Wonder if you remember."
"I remember you grabbing my collar, yelling about what kind of confession that was. Didn't appreciate my resolve at all—thought you were too much."
"No, who confesses using circuit theory analogies? Rambling incomprehensibly for an hour, then suddenly 'like this circuit, you...' "
"Stop. It's a memory I want to erase."
"Look at you getting embarrassed."
They laughed recounting memories.
Teasing each other, laughing.
"I remember first meeting Ganikalt too. Heard there was a swordsman who felled dozens of dragons with a single iron longsword..."
"Ah, yeah. Rushed out after hearing about some lunatic eyeing Arcadia's walls—the world's sturdiest, he said he wanted to cleave them."
"And he actually did it later."
"Yeah. Split the wall clean in half, and the exasperated queen made him Guardian Captain to keep his madness in check."
"Even cleaved a calamity once."
"I couldn't believe my eyes."
Stories of comrades.
Tales of journeys with them.
Trials overcome time and again, and the great and small moments between.
"Don't you have anything you want to ask me?"
"Ah, now that you mention it, there is one."
Gazing at Gleria, now half-faded, Cardi spoke. Come to think of it, there was something he desperately wanted to ask.
「I'll tell you later.」
「...So, when later?」
「Who knows.」
The old exchange resurfaced.
"Now that a full thousand years have passed, wouldn't it be fine to tell me why you called me Armiel?"
「After enough time passes that even you won't mind? 」
「...You gonna tell me after a few hundred years? 」
"A full millennium has truly gone by."