The sky, stretched with the Milky Way, was serene.
Even the moonlight could not boast its brilliant beauty in front of the silver river. Fragments of the collapsed barrier scattered like pollen.
It was a fantastical scene.
Even a wedding ceremony to decide a lifelong partner would not be as luxurious as this. Before long, the two stood in a clearing of the forest, with the moon and stars quietly looking down at the ground as guests.
The golden eyes of the man, who had been glancing back, now faced forward.
There was no hint of lingering feelings.
Despite the girl’s delicate hand clinging to his pant leg, he stepped forward without hesitation. As if he could easily shake off such a weak grip.
However, there was one variable he could not calculate.
The girl holding onto him was not an easy opponent.
Dragging sounds.
The girl gasped for breath, but did not loosen her grip on his pants. Despite being subjected to the humiliation of being dragged across the ground, she held on.
In the end, it was the man who first showed signs of surrender.
He let out an annoyed sigh and glanced back over his shoulder once more.
In response, the girl lifted her head. The girl’s blue eyes, hidden beneath the brim of her hooded hat, finally came into view.
A pupil that radiated a brilliant light even amidst the night’s curtains.
Her gaze was resolute.
“You are I-an, right?”
“What are you talking about…?”
“You’re I-an, the one I knew. I’m Elsi Rainelle… Would you not recognize your first love?”
Any attempts to deny it were immediately thwarted.
The girl’s voice held a strong conviction, and the man sealed his lips.
Looking back, it had always been like this.
No matter what lies he tried to tell or how hard he attempted to hide his heart.
The girl would always pick up on it and relentlessly probe into his true feelings.
What a twisted story it was.
It was a memory from long ago.
The Great Forest had burned, and precious lives had been lost. It was a tragedy that had repeated itself many times since then.
A scab formed over wounds left unattended for so long.
The scar on his heart was the same. It had become a scar long ago, and it had been quite a while since he felt any pain at all.
Yet now, to resurrect memories from the most innocent times.
The man tried to take a step again but hesitated, ultimately closing his eyes tightly.
“…Stop.”
His tone was cold.
There was not even a trace of emotion in his voice; his dry words were almost sharp.
It was the kind of response that should be expected from someone so wounded.
Nevertheless, the girl’s gaze did not waver.
“I don’t want to.”
“No matter what, my feelings won’t change.”
He had always spoken respectfully.
But no longer. His cold demeanor was layered with multiple meanings.
All of them not positive.
“This story is already over… What use is there in wasting more time now?”
“Because I love you.”
It was a simple confession.
But that brief phrase erased countless counterarguments the man had been considering in an instant.
Elsi’s gaze remained steadfast.
“Because I like you, because I want to see you one more time… I want to talk to you one last time. Is that not allowed?”
“…In the distant future.”
With a slightly softened tone, the man let out a shaky breath.
“When everything is over in the distant future… then.”
That was his ultimatum.
The man began to walk away again. His firm attitude would not waver, even if the girl was dragged along the ground, covered in dirt, moaning.
Even if he stumbled over a stone and tore her skin, it was the same.
But still, the girl did not loosen her grip. Instead, she managed to swallow her cries and shouted.
“Why, why… can’t it be now?!”
“Because there are more important matters.”
His body was already in shambles.
No matter how much she tried to hold on, there was a limit. Elsi desperately struggled, grasping his pant leg, but her trembling arms were signaling the end.
The man did not stop walking and said, “…I don’t have much time left.”
“I do, I do too…!”
Just then, the girl’s index finger, which had been gripping his pants, slipped free.
Even as she tried to reach out, her body wouldn’t respond.
A pitiful sight to behold.
She had lived as a high-ranking noblewoman her entire life. How much had she desperately fought to survive, wrapped up in pride and arrogance?
The man was not unaware of that.
So he could not take his final step just yet.
For the first time, he let out a painful breath and turned his back.
Heaving, heaving.
The girl’s eyes grew hazy as she struggled to catch her breath. It was a sign that she was about to lose consciousness.
And that was understandable.
Her body had almost been crushed amidst the collapsing barrier. Though she summoned her last ounce of strength, it was literally the “last.”
After exhausting all her energy, fainting was inevitable.
As the man quietly knelt and looked down at the girl, an indescribable emotion briefly passed through his eyes. Eventually, his hand hesitated as it reached out toward the girl.
But it never reached her.
Before he could, his body jerked back, trembling.
Yet, all he did was utter a forced confession.
“I’m not the I-an you knew anymore… I’m sorry.”
With that, the man quickly rose to his feet.
It was as if he feared the girl might try to grasp him again.
However, before he could take even a few steps, the girl squeezed her gut and let out one last desperate cry.
“……So what?!”
It was a scream, closer to a wail.
The girl’s eyes were already cloudy and unable to function. But she instinctively realized something.
That her grasp had caused the man’s steps to halt abruptly.
The girl knew everything about him.
“Just because you’ve changed, what then? Did you think I’d quietly give up? Don’t be ridiculous… It doesn’t matter what you say!”
The tremors in her voice steadied and grew resolute.
The sound of her grinding teeth represented her determination.
“I, Elsi Rainelle! I will never give up… I will never let you go! Just you wait, just as you did… I too will not give up…!”
Limits always come at the most unwanted moments.
The girl was no exception. Perhaps due to her depleted stamina, she could not fight against the weight of her drooping eyelids.
Her body crumpled to the ground.
Nonetheless, the man was unable to find a way to leave for some time.
Finally, with a bitter smile, he turned his head away. He had already heard empty words too many times.
The game was over.
Though the inexperienced child kept refusing to reclaim her body, there was a limit to that as well. Ultimately, for the man to operate in this world, two conditions were needed.
First, the original owner must lose consciousness.
Second, the man’s consciousness must wish to remain there.
At this point, neither condition was being met. The man desperately wanted to return and rest.
He had already fought too many battles.
Yes, it was best to just collapse like this.
If only an unwanted guest had not barged in.
Click.
The man did not even turn his gaze. Only a sword that sprang forth like a ghost blocked his path.
With a sizzling sound, broken flames formed a semi-circle and seeped inward. Only then did the man’s perplexed gaze turn forward.
Nothing was there.
And that made it all the more bizarre.
His whole body was shouting. That a sword was right before him, and that the sword was targeting this body.
Yet, there was not a single shadow lingering on the burned retina.
The man tilted his head and then…
Lightning bifurcated the world.
A horizontal line connected the ends of his vision. An illusion as if the entire world had split into upper and lower parts.
Cracks were forming in that boundary line.
A figure appeared in the man’s retina.
“Finally, finally revealed… little one!”
Dark-colored hair, blue eyes.
A girl who appeared to be in her mid to late teens.
Thus, the man couldn’t help but wear a puzzled expression. He had met many people, but only someone with such physical characteristics resembled the former lord.
Let alone blocking his strike.
The man chuckled but then was met with a surprising outcome.
It wouldn’t fall away.
The sword coiled like a serpent, and the girl continued to smile before him. Exuding a strong scent of excitement that was even more intense than the poisonous snakes of the Great Forest.
Eventually, the man chose to keep his mouth shut.
His indifferent golden eyes scanned the surroundings. As he surveyed all directions, a sigh filled with disbelief escaped his lips.
The whole world was a sword.
Inhaling and exhaling, the wind brushing his skin, the moonlight and starlight that clouded his vision.
Ultimately, the man could only voice his suspicions.
“…Are you perhaps the ‘Swordmaster’?”
“Then who else would it be… you brat!”
With that, the very air of the world became a blade that surged toward the man.
A few seconds later, all the blades erupted, revealing the man’s form within.
With an exceptionally grim expression.
Before the man stood a girl with a lovely appearance, and he thought to himself.
At this point, wouldn’t it be best if the world were to perish?
His sigh sounded particularly mournful.
The collapsing world.
It was something he had never experienced before. Remaining in a space of unconsciousness, even forcibly, meant drifting through memories of the man.
A jumbled mess of murmurs scratched at his ears.
In the midst of that, there was a sound he couldn’t hear.
There was no evidence—it was simply a peculiar certainty that felt plausible.
A vaguely familiar sound of a woman’s sobs.
I had arrived there unconsciously.
And saw.
A girl in a hooded hat who had locked herself in a prison and was crying.
“…Senior Elsi.”
At that moment, the tear-filled blue eyes met mine.
Wearing a face I had never seen before.
