Lingering Affections
The god loved the child it had created. An agape love—the archetypal love that would sacrifice even itself.
“Don’t we… know each other?”
Asera’s trembling voice brushed against my ear. It wasn’t just her voice. The quiver traveled straight from the tips of her fingers, clenched tightly around my wrist. At some point, she had sprinted all the way here from the village entrance in a single breath.
How. Me.
“…That can’t be right. You must have… mistaken me for someone else?”
I forced the words out of my throat. It was pure reflex.
“I’ve barely ever left this village. Yes, it must be a misunderstanding.”
“…Is that… so?”
Was she not entirely convinced? I felt the strength in the hand gripping me begin to fade.
“…Then.”
I carefully pried her loosened fingers away. In truth, I wanted to hold on longer. Yet why had I pretended not to know her? I didn’t know the reason. The situation had been too sudden, and I’d blurted out a lie on instinct. Or perhaps it was because of the resolve I had hardened just moments ago.
I will not become an obstacle to her journey.
My jaw ached. Only then did I realize I had been grinding my teeth fiercely. I dragged my heavy legs forward with stubborn effort. I forced my gaze straight ahead, straining to keep it fixed forward. To shatter a resolution I had set for myself so easily—
—Grab.
“Really?”
“Huh?!”
She seized my wrist again. This time, the grip was far more desperate.
“Truly, with all your heart… are we really strangers?”
“W-what are you even saying…”
Asera clutched her chest with one hand as if she couldn’t breathe, while her other hand still refused to let go of me.
“I-I don’t even know why I’m acting like this…! But… if I just let you go like this, I feel like I’ll regret it for the rest of my life…!”
“Regret…?”
“I know it sounds strange! I know it does, my head knows it, but why…!”
Hesitation and confusion. Were those the emotions she was feeling?
“…Actually, we did make eye contact on the battlefield. Maybe that’s why—”
“No!!”
Asera reflexively shouted, then flinched and bit her lip.
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice… but it’s not just that! There’s something more, something much deeper…”
She was rambling. Her clear blue eyes swirled with confusion, as if she herself didn’t understand the words spilling from her mouth. Yet despite her wandering gaze, the fingers gripping my wrist held on with stubborn strength. As though her instincts were desperately clinging to a reality her reason refused to accept.
“…”
How had she recognized me? That question had already faded into the distance. What came first was a tender, aching emotion. The warmth around my wrist, the careful cadence of her voice, the silver hair gleaming in the sunset, the outline of those transparent, turbulent eyes. It was perfect.
So this was what it meant to love one’s own creation. For the first time, I truly understood those words. Even though the situation demanded reason above all else, I felt the corners of my mouth threatening to curve into a foolish smile. And because of that, my heart ached even more.
I could never become a stumbling block on her path. I could not insert unnecessary variables into the trajectory she was meant to carve.
I slowly removed her hand from my wrist. For a brief moment, hesitation flickered at her fingertips. But she didn’t try to hold on any longer. Was it consideration for me? I was glad for it.
…Ah. Maybe one sentence would be fine. After all, I wouldn’t see her again after this.
“Please, don’t get hurt.”
“Y-yes…?”
It was the first time in my life I had ever spoken with so much affection.
“And please remember that there is someone who will always watch over you from afar and cheer for you on your journey ahead.”
“…? W-what does that…”
“Asera, may your journey always be blessed.”
She stood there, blankly collecting my words. The silence didn’t last long.
“H-how…?! How do you know my name…?”
I didn’t answer her question. I simply offered a slightly regretful smile. Then I took a step back, trying to etch her face into my memory just a little more.
“Asera—! Is everything okay—? The carriage is about to leave—!!”
At that moment, Lien’s shout echoed from afar. She was waving her hand vigorously in our direction.
“Ah…!”
For a fleeting instant, Asera’s eyes wavered, unable to find their footing. Instinct told me this was probably the end. I quietly turned on my heel.
“?! W-wait! Just a little more—!”
I walked. Then I broke into a run. Afraid that lingering affection would shackle my ankles, I sprinted like a madman.
“—! —!!”
From behind came the sound of something large collapsing. I didn’t stop. I didn’t look back. Had Asera tried to call me back? I immediately crushed that arrogant, foolish hope. I absolutely hated the thought of becoming even the slightest hindrance to her journey.
Suddenly, a strange sound struck my ears. It was a groan that seemed to scrape up from the pit of my stomach. When I listened closely, I realized it was coming from my own mouth.
“W-wait! Just a little more—!”
Asera’s urgent voice rang out. The man’s back was rapidly disappearing into the distance. The moment she hurriedly stepped forward to chase after him—
A sudden, massive shadow loomed overhead. It was the crumbling remains of a building, collapsing with unexpected force.
“…?!”
BOOM!!
With a ground-shaking roar, the massive structure came crashing down right in front of Asera. Shards of debris and clouds of dust exploded in every direction, instantly turning her vision pure white.
Asera quickly waved away the choking dust cloud. She had to catch up to him somehow. But—
“Ah…!”
A short groan slipped from her lips. The man’s trace had already vanished from the edge of her sight.
Emptiness and a sigh. As she stared at the now-desolate street, her gaze eventually fell on the enormous pile of rubble blocking her path. It was likely one of the buildings damaged during the monster attack. Yet the timing of its collapse felt far too unnatural. A strange sense of dissonance brushed over her, as if it had deliberately blocked her way.
“Asera—?! Are you okay—??”
Lien’s voice called out from behind once more. She must have heard the loud crash. Even with her body wrapped in bandages and clearly unsteady, Lien was rushing over in concern.
“……”
The most urgent priority right now was treating Lien. Asera’s tightly clenched fist trembled faintly. The inexplicable longing that had torn through her chest. The question of why that man had shown her such gentle emotion. And above all, the deep suspicion of how he had known her name. All of it swirled madly in her mind, yet she could not turn away from Lien, who was suffering right before her eyes.
Asera stared in the direction the man had disappeared for a long time. Then she bit her lip and slowly turned her steps toward the village entrance.
I will definitely return to this village.
A hardened resolve forged from agonizing lingering affection. Why did she feel this way? If she couldn’t unravel these tangled questions, it felt like they would remain an unquenchable thirst for the rest of her life. Just like the person she met every night in her dreams.
“…”
At the rubble of the recently collapsed building, where the acrid dust had finally settled, a small shadow stretched long across the ground. Its owner was a girl with short brown hair.
“…They don’t even know each other.”
Dohesi quietly watched the silver-haired woman growing smaller in the distance. Her cold eyes revealed no emotion. Then her gaze slid to the opposite direction—the way Noriel had vanished. Immediately, an even icier chill settled into her eyes.
“Noriel.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
The voice that split the air shattered coldly in the empty space.
Clatter. Clatter—.
A single line of light moved across the darkened meadow. A medium-sized carriage bearing the emblem of the Allied Kingdom glided smoothly through the night air.
Normally, the kingdom’s military units moved in organized formations. However, the situation in Olpia Village had been so horrific that even that rule had to be broken. Most of the troops had to remain in the village to handle the aftermath, leaving only the two injured knights to be transported separately for treatment.
Clatter.
Inside the swaying carriage, heavy silence and exhaustion lingered.
“How much longer until we reach the capital?”
Asera’s question was directed at the soldier seated at the driver’s bench. Since the military carriage had an open connection between the interior and the driver’s seat, a cheerful reply came back immediately.
“We’re almost there. At this pace, we should cross the Sia Del Great Bridge within forty minutes.”
“…Thank you.”
The carriage fell silent once more. Only the rhythmic creaking of the wheels could be heard.
Asera looked down with pity at the girl leaning against her shoulder, breathing in shallow gasps. It was Lien, who had fallen into an exhausted, unconscious sleep from severe fatigue and injury. Asera wasn’t usually an impatient person, but right now every second felt urgent.
The forced march that had continued since morning. After Asera had gone missing, Lien had searched through the Great Forest while carrying out her guild duties, then fought desperately against an unidentified monster. No matter how superhuman a knight she was, she was still human. She couldn’t endure such extreme exhaustion without consequence.
Circuit Reflux Syndrome. By squeezing out every last drop of her body’s magic power without rest, the circuits running through her veins had dried up and withered. If she didn’t receive proper treatment and recovery soon, she might not even be able to move for several days. That was why they had pushed the carriage through the deep night toward the city.
“Because of me…”
She must have overexerted herself while trying to save Asera. Knowing Lien’s personality, she would have pushed her own safety aside without hesitation.
Asera gently wrapped her hands around Lien’s bandaged one.
“Mmm… Aseraaaa……”
Lien mumbled in her sleep, rubbing her cheek against Asera’s shoulder. A faint smile spread across Asera’s lips. She tenderly brushed the tangled hair from her friend’s face. Thankfully, there probably wasn’t much to worry about. If it was Lien, after a good day or two of rest, she would be laughing brightly again as if nothing had happened.
“Ahem. Miss Knight. About that monster that appeared this time—I heard it was far more terrifying than expected.”
Perhaps the prolonged silence had grown awkward, because the soldier at the driver’s bench spoke first.
“From what I understand, even the higher-ups didn’t have proper information on it. Is that true?”
“…I don’t know much either. The guild only told us it was a creature whose name they couldn’t even identify.”
“Huh. To think there’s a creature roaming around that even the Allied Kingdom couldn’t identify. You really do see everything in this life.”
At the soldier’s light sigh, Asera’s eyes darkened. The Allied Kingdom possessed the Eye of the Constellation, a clairvoyant ability granted by the great queen. Thanks to that, they held an overwhelmingly superior information network compared to other nations. The fact that such a creature had gone unreported until now was no small matter.
Just what was that thing’s true identity?
Asera felt a sense of unease. The monster had seemed like it was only just beginning to grow. If a being from the same domain were to appear again in its complete form…
Would she even be able to hold her sword in the face of such a distant calamity?
“To think the two of you subjugated a creature like that alone—you truly are knights. I can’t help but admire you.”
“Pardon…?”
It was a completely unexpected remark. In her confusion, an absent-minded sound even slipped out.
“The feat of shoving an entire Yongdeung down the beast’s throat! Just hearing the villagers’ tales of your heroism made my heart swell with pride!”
“N-no… It wasn’t me, it was one of the villagers who…”
“Haha, no need to be so modest. There was even a young man who said he saw you bravely fighting the monster with his own eyes.”
“What…?? No, that’s really not—”
“In that hellish chaos, who else but you knights could have slain such a monster?! As expected of the pride of the Allied Kingdom!!”
The soldier enthusiastically recounted the heavily embellished tale in an excited voice. Asera tried to correct the distorted rumor, but the soldier’s burning momentum overwhelmed her, and she missed the chance to interrupt. Her difficulty dealing with strangers probably played a part as well. In the end, Asera swallowed a small sigh and decided to give up on explaining for now.
“…That person.”
The one who had truly subjugated the monster was that man. It had all been according to his arrangement.
‘We just heard this from the villagers. There’s a rather clever young man in the village who said so.’
‘He told us that if we shoved flames down that thing’s maw, it would die happily.’
The information must have come from him as well. In that case, even the reckless act of charging in with the Yongdeung had been a calculated strategy after seeing through the creature’s core.
The questions kept piling up. How had he known the weakness of a monster that not even the Allied Kingdom’s information network had detected?
The more she tried to dig into that person, the more inexplicable situations kept emerging. But what troubled her most was—
The identity of that profound longing that had surged over her like a tidal wave the moment their eyes met.
“…”
Neatly settled dark black hair. Calm, deep black eyes. A face that looked around her age, yet somehow still carried a hint of youth. Asera turned her head toward the open carriage window. It faced the direction of Olpia Village.
Although she had let him slip away right before her eyes, next time she would definitely catch him. She would return to that village as soon as possible. She wanted to face him again, to uncover his identity and the reason behind this connection—no matter what it took.