Estina - Thank You All, Until Now
Estina turned away after a brief farewell, and Tiny watched her go along with his comrades. Everyone knew it would be their last goodbye, yet no one tried to stop her.
With the Beast King of the demon insect legion bearing down on them, they couldn't allow the flying monsters to strike humanity's main base in their rear—or to endlessly harass their advance. And Estina was the only one who could deal with them.
"What is this? You won't even accept my final farewell?"
Even as she spoke those words, everyone just stared at the sky or the ground. Even the cold-hearted Sword Emperor couldn't meet her eyes and turned his head away. Tiny gritted his teeth and forced a smile.
"What final farewell? We'll meet again soon anyway."
"...What are you saying, you big, dumb oaf."
She let out a small laugh and patted his chest—that final smile.
"Let's meet again in the Goddess's embrace, Tiny. Then..."
Her last words, tossed back over her shoulder as she turned away, were lost amid the tears that finally spilled over.
He'd agonized countless times over whether there had been another way. But no one had found an answer. The next 'descent' was tightening its noose around humanity's neck, forcing even their elite forces into a desperate gamble with their lives.
But one lingering regret refused to fade.
If only I'd been stronger...
That thought wouldn't leave him.
Yes, that was how it had been...
"Damn it... fuck..."
Tears streamed from his wide-open eyes. Then, in an instant, his mind went blank.
A dream...?
Reality felt distant for a moment. That's when it came.
"You always curse whether you're falling or getting back up. Some things never change with you."
A familiar, longed-for voice struck his ear.
"...Estina?"
He whipped his head around in shock, and there she was, smiling brightly. Her green hair and green eyes, the elven knight attire that accentuated her figure with its vivid colors—all felt so familiar.
"Yes, Tiny. I'm still a bit confused myself, but... I suppose I should say it's nice to see you."
She spoke as if she knew the dream he'd just had. That gaze, so like his old comrade from the past, brought fresh confusion.
"I've 'borrowed a life' once more. Or maybe it'll happen again in the future?"
He vaguely grasped her meaning, and as he looked at her, scenes began surfacing in his mind one by one. They brought a sudden headache.
"Ugh... urk..."
His throbbing head unfolded over two hundred years of memories. At least they were relatively mundane and peaceful, like the eternal elven lives humans often imagined.
But.
What...?
One scene stood out starkly. A young elven knight, still green compared to her prime now, driven by ambition into a grave mistake. That error cost her fellow elven knight parents their lives. The memory of her wailing in guilt, then shutting herself away for over a decade, broken.
And the one phrase that dragged her out.
"Feel the guilt—and fulfill your duty all the more surely."
He vividly read the process of her forming that obsessive devotion to her role.
A painful memory she'd never shared even in their past life. It naturally stirred complex thoughts.
"...Seeing that look in your eyes, you've read my memories too, huh? Though I doubt it shook you as much as it did me."
Estina chuckled as she said it, snapping him back to reality. Her words and expression implied she knew everything.
"Ha..."
Strangely, it felt far more intimate than in his past life, making her easy to empathize with.
Good. No need for a hard sell. But as if reading that thought, she chided him.
"I don't know how you did it, but hold back from now on. This is too dangerous. Especially around the temple folk—or God Hand. You get what I mean, right?"
He wasn't sure he'd do it again even if asked, but the answer came easily.
"Ah... of course."
If soul communion happened with God Hand, he'd go mad before worrying about a temple execution order. The man had lived centuries, maybe, with 90% of his mind filled with fanatic faith—he'd even forgotten his own name.
"What do you take me for?"
"What else? A big, dumb oaf."
He chuckled. Beyond mere persuasion, she was showing the exact demeanor of their past-life camaraderie, bringing real relief.
Just one odd thing.
"...Even after seeing my memories from my perspective, isn't your attitude too natural?"
"Not at all. Hm, if anything, seeing them from your side makes me trust you more."
"What?"
"Don't get it? I felt all your emotions firsthand. And from your memories, I can guess how I saw you in the past life."
"...I see."
"Plus, now I get why you went so berserk back then."
"Hm?"
Estina looked at him with sudden pity. She hesitated, then continued softly.
"Your sister's matter. It's tragic, but you don't need to be chained to it forever."
Tiny's face hardened instantly, and seeing it, Estina waved her hands hurriedly.
"No, wait. That's going too far. Sorry."
"...No, it's fine. It's not like that."
Erina's matter was his reverse scale, but he wasn't so shallow as to misread her intent as malice or worry.
Estina smiled with a strange expression.
"As expected... Guess past-life me was good at reading people."
Hm?
"What do you mean by—?"
"Nothing. Rest up for now. You know Overrebound took my place, right? Even you need at least a month."
She poked his side playfully.
"Urk."
Pain shot through his body, drawing out a groan. Despite his confidence, he'd ended up taking her injuries himself.
But better him bedridden for a month than her with permanent damage.
Still.
"...Damn."
He'd come to shorten the persuasion time, but now he'd lose a whole month. He sighed.
"Hey? Don't make me feel too bad."
"Ah, no. I didn't mean—"
Estina chuckled again at his frantic waving. She smiled far more often now than when they'd first met in this life.
"And I get you want to learn spirit arts, so wait a bit. Even during waves, I have time during the day."
"Ha, but my condition right now...?"
"Spirit arts training doesn't need mana."
"What?"
"You'll see. Anyway, I have things to handle."
With a wink, Estina vanished from the tent. Tiny finally let out a chuckle of his own.
After all the twists, things had worked out for the best.
And.
"Definitely different."
Compared to the stiff, intimidating Sword Emperor, Estina was...
Cough.
"Ah, no. Screw it! Why am I...? Damn that old man..."
Not scary, really. Just bruised pride.
Ahem.
Anyway, unlike meetings with the Sword Emperor, the still-distant Weapon Master, or the reaper whose memory still tightened his chest... reconnecting with a past-life comrade felt special.
A smile naturally rose to his face.
* * *
After the chaos and scattered monster assaults ended, the elven knights gathered once more. At the spot with the last of the three Tiny had pointed out—a gravely wounded elf who hadn't escaped.
"...You really won't talk, Uriel?"
Her tone toward Tiny was utterly cold. The pale-faced, bound golden-haired elf gritted her teeth.
Then spat something unexpected.
"Lady Estina, don't you ever get tired?"
"What?"
"Why should we—we elves—fight these filthy monsters to survive!? Why sacrifice for those dirty humans, orcs, dwarves!? I don't understand!"
Estina stared at the criminal with a hardened face. Ramuel, nearby, glanced around and stepped forward.
"It's our original sin. The sins of our ancestors..."
"Why pay for ancestors' sins!? And the real sinners all fled to the demon realm! We're descendants of those who stayed with humanity to the end. It doesn't make sense!"
The demon-worshipping elf Uriel sought agreement, meeting eyes with the surrounding elven knights one by one.
"Why must we shed blood here!? Why..."
Estina saw some young elven knights' gazes grow heavy. She cut in with a icy smile.
"So you thought you'd follow your ancestors to the demon realm instead?"
"...I just felt wronged. I just wanted to see the world! I didn't want to live like this forever!!!"
Her near-shriek brimmed with raw injustice. Words full of 'un-elven' desire. A rational elf would recoil, but Estina caught some young ones nodding unconsciously.
Though young herself, she'd never thought that way. Before Tiny's memories, it might have shocked her deeply.
But now she was different.
They can think that.
In the future where the World Tree burned and relics were lost, elven knights numbered barely a thousand. From over ten thousand elites to a tenth remaining in the apocalypse. After seeing that, young elves' emotional lapses couldn't shake her.
So she decided easily.
"For an elf who abandons duty to desire, only death is permitted."
"Guardian, I...!"
Slice.
The traitor Uriel's head fell before she finished. Thud. Her screaming face frozen, as if unaware of her end.
And at once.
Fsssh.
Her corpse rotted instantly, reeking. Estina sheathed her sword calmly.
Click.
"No pain."
Considering their past ties, she'd ended it swiftly. She cast a chilling gaze over the elven knights.
"Today's events stay secret until the monster wave ends. Then, gather all scattered elven knights and rangers. We'll root out traitors at once."
The elven knights' leader, guardian of the World Tree, drew her blade for internal surgery.