Chapter 454
Chapter 454
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 454
Chapter Title: Farewell, My Eternal
Having endured a thousand years in hope of reunion, the time granted at the end of that millennium was truly but an instant. A moment that passes in the blink of an eye, even for humans, let alone elves.
The end of that moment was drawing near.
There was scarcely any time left to feel each other's warmth, to share stories, to reminisce over memories, or even to listen to one another's voices.
...
His throat tightened.
Yet they had promised to see each other off with smiles until the very end. He couldn't allow himself to shed unseemly tears. Cardi swallowed hard, steeled his gaze, and looked at Gleria. He posed a question to her fading form.
"Isn't it about time you told me why you called me Armiel?"
「After so much time has passed that even you wouldn't feel it's too soon?」
「...Are you saying you'll tell me in a few hundred years?」
"Because a full thousand years have truly gone by."
2.
"You still haven't forgotten that, have you?"
Gleria smiled at Cardi's question.
Ever the same, using that excellent memory of his on such trivial things. To answer, Gleria let out a long breath and closed her eyes, sifting through her memories.
Why had she insisted on calling him Armiel?
It was a truly insignificant reason, as she recalled.
Somewhere along the way, it had become amusing to watch his reactions, but in any case, there was no grand motive behind it.
"It was really nothing much."
"I'd appreciate it if you could spare a thought for the heart that waited a thousand years to hear that 'nothing much.'"
Gleria let out a soft chuckle.
She exhaled deeply and opened her mouth. As she did, her mind drifted to the past. A very distant past.
"It was just... just that..."
Cardi van Armiel.
The head of the kingdom's greatest mage tower, the one and only grand archmage of Arcadia whom everyone respected. A figure admired by all, yet also feared.
"You were such an extraordinary person, someone no one dared challenge... Everyone called you Cardi, right? No one was unaware of your dislike for your baptismal name."
Ashen Mage Tower Lord.
Grand Archmage.
Lord Cardi. Sir Cardi.
Cardi, Cardi, Cardi...
"Thinking about it, it was only natural. No one wants to fall out of your favor. What good would come from upsetting you?"
"...Was I really that authoritarian?"
"Not exactly, but anyway."
Gleria tilted her head.
A little embarrassed, she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and continued.
"Seeing everyone call you Cardi made me think... In a world where everyone uses 'Cardi,' if I alone called you Armiel... wouldn't that mean I could claim 'Armiel'—the one who's not Cardi—for myself...?"
"......"
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Gleria, didn't you start calling me Armiel from the very first time we met?"
"...You're right, I did."
"......"
"...What? Why? Do you want me to say it out loud—that I fell for you at first sight, that I wanted to be special to you from our very first meeting?"
"Wow, do I really have to spell it out for you?"
At Gleria's slightly sulky expression, Cardi let out a hollow laugh. To think he'd waited a thousand years for an answer like this. It was deflating, yet somehow amusing.
"I thought there was some profound reason..."
"Well, another reason did come up later."
"Another reason?"
"After we started dating, I said things like that sometimes, remember? Our time flows differently. Someday, I'll have to leave your side."
"...I remember."
"So I wondered. After I leave, how would you remember me? How would you look back on our time together...? I pondered it deeply, and an answer came to me."
Armiel, Gleria whispered.
"I thought, 'A name would be perfect.'"
Gleria flashed a playful smile.
"Every time you recalled that baptismal name only I ever used exclusively, you'd think of me. Even after I left you, you'd remember me."
That's what I thought.
Looking back now, it's embarrassing.
Murmuring that, Gleria beamed brightly at Cardi, gazing straight at him.
"That's it. No other reasons."
"...I see."
"So, did it mean anything?"
"It did. Terribly so."
Cardi smiled bitterly.
Armiel. The baptismal name attached to him.
In the past, Cardi had been convinced there was some special reason Gleria called him that. And so, after Arcadia's fall, when humanity established a new foothold... he declared his name not as Cardi, but as 'Armiel' when founding the mage tower there.
The first Ashen Mage Tower Lord, Armiel.
Everyone called him Armiel.
Gleria dismissed it as a girlish whim born of affection, nothing serious—but contrary to her intent, the name 'Armiel' became shackles for Cardi.
Unable to find answers, with everyone forgetting the past, bearing these memories alone, hearing constant news of his former comrades turned to calamity.
It gnawed at Cardi's mind.
It sickened him. In his broken state, he tried countless times to let everything go, to nullify the contract...
「Lord Armiel.」
The mage tower's mages.
The royal family's members.
Mages seeking his guidance.
Countless others.
「Lord Armiel?」
Every time they uttered 'Lord Armiel,' Cardi was forced to recall Gleria. To remember her smiling face as she called him Armiel. To revisit the Gleria who whispered 'I believe in you' even as shadows consumed her.
Thus, he couldn't give up.
He absolutely could not let go.
Armiel—that name now solely his—had pulled him back from the brink each time, shouting for him not to stop.
"A vicious curse."
"Was it?"
"Yes. And at the same time, encouragement."
A curse that kept him from abandoning the dream, yet also encouragement.
"Thanks to it, I made it this far."
"Then it did have meaning."
Gleria smiled.
Cardi smiled too. After laughing for a while, Gleria let out a long breath. Then, slowly, she rose.
"Armiel."
Cardi's eyes wavered.
Gleria's form was no longer merely fading—it was crumbling. Realizing the end had finally claimed her, Cardi shot to his feet.
"It seems our time is up."
Gleria smiled painfully.
Nothing to be done about it, she murmured, tilting her head. Her cascading hair no longer glittered in the sunlight. The light passed straight through it.
Fading. Transparent. Vanishing.
He'd steeled himself, understood this conclusion awaited—yet before the approaching end, Cardi's gaze shook. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
"It was nice talking after so long. Nice seeing your face again. I never imagined we'd have a chance like this..."
Unlike Cardi, who could say nothing, Gleria kept speaking. But even her voice began to tremble faintly.
"To meet you again... truly..."
Moisture crept into her voice.
Gleria bowed her head. Tears traced down her cheeks. Her lips quivered.
"I was truly happy."
Yet, in the end, Gleria lifted her head.
Tears streaming, she still smiled at Cardi—as if wishing to bid him farewell with a smile to the last.
"Were you too?"
"Of course."
Cardi answered.
With a trembling voice, pressing the corners of his eyes, he forced a smile.
"Why ask something so obvious?"
"Even obvious things need words sometimes. Especially at the end."
What words to leave at the last.
He didn't deliberate long. Cardi spoke.
"Gleria."
"Yes, Armiel."
"I love you. In the past, and from now on."
Cardi, who had never spoken so directly.
Prickly and cold as he was, hopeless at romance, unable even to confess properly... At those words from such a Cardi, Gleria laughed. As if nothing could make her happier.
"Me too."
In her final moment, she smiled.
Bathed in pouring sunlight, brighter than ever before.
"Farewell, Cardi."
A wind blew.
With the wind, Gleria's body scattered. Her body and soul dispersed. Cardi reached for the light particles carried on the breeze. Naturally, his hand grasped nothing.
...
One cannot catch the passing wind.
The breeze that lingered at his side for that fleeting instant had now departed to a place beyond pursuit. Cardi's eyes shook as he watched the glittering specks. His lips trembled. Finally, he bowed his head.
A wind blew across the field.
Amid the blowing wind, Cardi collapsed.
On his knees, he groaned.
He'd resolved to see her off with dignity to the end, replayed this scene in his mind countless times...
Drip, drip.
In the end, tears fell.
Emotions piled up over centuries, sedimented deep, all poured forth. The elf who had lived as if stripped of feeling vomited them out.
「Thank you, Armiel.」
「Call me by name. It's not a baptismal name I particularly like.」
「But I prefer this one.」
Memories from the past centuries flashed through his mind. Moments with Gleria raced by—the times she had stayed at his side.
「From today, I, Cardi van Armiel, will be your teacher. I don't like my baptismal name, so call me Cardi.」
「Got it, Teacher Armiel.」
「Did you even listen to me?」
The moment he became her mentor.
「To everyone, I'm just a saintess, an apostle of god. So what am I? No one sees me as Gleria Bell Armias... just Gleria. I...」
「Why not?」
「...Huh?」
「Like all mages, I don't hold stars in such divine regard. To me, you're just a human who can do a bit more than most. An ordinary one.」
「...Liar.」
「Hah. Have I ever treated you like a saintess? To me, you're just a cheeky brat.」
「What did you call me?」
「What, want to be treated like an adult? Then master this holy spell first. Worrying about nonsense when you can't even handle this.」
「I'll be an adult next year, you know? A full-grown one. I don't even look that much younger than you, so no way am I some kid you can—」
「What bullshit.」
The times teaching her, listening to her stories.
「Wait, is that a confession right now? No way, right?」
「......」
「What do I do with you? I'm going crazy. Who confesses like that...!」
「So, do you like me or not?」
「No. I really don't. I won't accept it. Hey, where are you going? I wasn't done.」
「You said no.」
「Why are you so annoying... Sigh, whatever. It's not like I didn't know who you were.」
「...Why grab my collar?」
「Watch closely. This is how you confess.」
The moment they became lovers.
「I've got to look after this scatterbrain.」
「Ow! Why hit me, Armiel!」
「How many times have I told you not to use my baptismal name? This is the 3,752nd. Once a day—it's been nearly ten years of just this.」
「Then give up already!」
「You give up. Elves don't know the meaning of surrender.」
The day their journey began.
「I'm scared. That the salvation I desire might not be salvation at all. It frustrates me that I can't save them. Am I... on the right path?」
「It's okay to be wrong. I'll set you straight.」
「You?」
「Yes. That's why I'm following you.」
「Then I'll believe in you.」
The day they made their promise.
「I'm sorry, Armiel.」
The day he lost her.
The day his thousand-year journey began.
「Still so you.」
「......」
「Armiel said it, right? Don't lose your righteousness. Don't forget your path. If you do...」
「I said I'd set it right.」
「Yes.」
「Can't it be a promise, not a contract?」
「...No.」
The day he faced her broken self.
「I'll find the answer. As long as you remember the promise, I won't forget it either. I...」
「Then I'll wait.」
The day he ultimately couldn't end her and renewed their promise before her. Amid countless such memories, the one that settled last was singular.
「I was happy to meet you again.」
「Farewell, Cardi.」
Not Armiel, but Cardi.
Only at the very last did she call his name. Savoring that voice, now lost forever, Cardi sobbed.
—————.
Screams, groans, sobs.
Expelling everything he'd held back, Cardi raised his head. In a mess of tangled emotions, he reached toward the vanishing light particles in the air.
Everything was disappearing.
The scenery, the light specks, the wind that had lingered at his side—all crumbled away. Watching the collapsing hillside, tears streaming, Cardi managed a faint smile. Wishing to bid her farewell with one last smile.
"Farewell, Gleria."
Farewell, my eternal.