༺ Journey (3) ༻
The Garden of Elia.
Vargo met Vera there.
“Are you going now?”
He said, observing Vera’s appearance.
His hair, which had been grown out for so long, was now neatly trimmed. He had cast off the ill-fitting clerical robes and was now wearing the far more familiar armor.
The ashen pupils had regained their lost light, gleaming sharply.
Vera bowed his head.
“Yes, I intend to go.”
Vargo’s eyes shimmered as he watched Vera.
He realized that the man who had been deteriorating more and more each day for the past year was finally trying to get back on his feet.
“…Mm, this is far better than to see than you moping around.”
Though he wished to praise his disciple for finally rising above the pain, his stubborn nature, as always, prevented him from doing so and caused his words to come out blunt.
Vera smiled bitterly at that.
“I apologize for worrying you.”
“As if you mean that.”
Vargo turned away.
“Where are you headed?”
“To where the Saint is.”
“Do you know where she is and how to get to her?”
“I don’t, but I know someone who might.”
A winter wind swept through the garden.
After surrendering himself to the sensation for a moment, Vargo exhaled deeply and answered.
“…Since the existence of this land, no one has ever reached the heavens.”
His words accurately pinpointed Vera’s destination.
At that, Vera’s eyes widened slightly.
Was he still so easy to see through?
Realizing again how profound his master’s insight was, Vera laughed and replied.
“Then I’ll be the first.”
“You arrogant punk.”
Vargo’s low chuckle filled the gardens.
After turning his back to Vera, he waved his hand and left with the parting words.
“…Go on then. And if you meet them, tell them to get rid of this bothersome stigma for me.”
Vargo’s figure faded into the distance.
Vera watched his back, still seeming so large, for a short while before bowing deeply.
“Thank you.”
It was his act of paying respect to his master, who had waited this past year for him to stand again.
***
Vera departed from the Holy Kingdom.
None of the Apostles followed him on this journey.
They knew he had to accomplish this himself, so they remained to guard the place he would return to and cheered for his departure as he finally began to move forward.
That went without saying for the ‘Apostles’, of course.
“The Great Woodlands?”
A young girl’s voice was heard.
The owner of the somewhat high-pitched and delinquent tone was none other than Aisha.
Upon seeing the Great Woodlands looming ahead after following Vera, she tilted her head.
“Why here?”
Vera looked at Aisha.
Over the past year, she had grown rapidly and now resembled her appearance in his memories.
Vera felt a long overdue sense of guilt.
It was painful to him, knowing that this young girl also cherished Renee, and yet he neglected her while being consumed in his own grief.
As he saw Aisha’s expression crumple this way and that way while glaring at the Great Woodlands, Vera smiled slightly and answered.
“I’m going to meet Aedrin.”
“The tree? Why?”
“Is she not the only Ancient Species who hasn’t gone into hiding?”
Vera gazed at the Great Woodlands.
To Aedrin, who was waiting at the end.
‘…Those who may have clues to the heavens are none other than them.’
Existences from the creation of this world.
The only beings who had directly communicated with the Gods.
Surely, they would know something.
“Can we even get in though? There’s a barrier, right?”
“There’s no need to break through. They’ll come pick us up.”
At Vera’s words, Aisha’s eyes lit up after some contemplation.
“Oh!”
She belatedly realized something.
“Friede!”
What came to mind was who resided in the Great Woodlands.
The wait wasn’t long.
A shadow approached them from among the distant trees.
The elf who rode the wind and arrived before the two of them smiled.
“It’s been a long time.”
Aisha’s expression brightened, and Vera smiled faintly.
Friede’s smile deepened upon seeing them, then spoke.
“Come. Mother has been waiting for you.”
At those words, Vera’s brow furrowed slightly.
***
“Mother has been waiting for you since that day. She was overjoyed, saying the time has come for you to finally fulfill your role.”
Friede said, walking into the depths of the Great Woodlands.
Aedrin had been waiting for Vera every day since the fall of Alaysia, especially as the moment of his arrival marked the end of all their duties.
And there was more.
“It’s not only Mother.”
It wasn’t just Aedrin, but all the Ancient Species who had been waiting for this day.
[You’re late.]
A gloomy voice descended.
Vera’s eyes widened as he turned his head towards it.
“…Maleus.”
At the stump of a tree within the depths, an extravagantly adorned undead was watching him.
He wasn’t the only one present.
There was a woman with twelve arms spread in the dark shade when he turned around, and sleeping beside her was a black puppy lying on its stomach.
When he looked up, there was a massive ice dragon on the tree.
They were the Ancient Species.
The moment he confirmed that, the earth shook.
Rumble—!
It was a tremor so intense he could barely stand.
At the end was something that slowly filled his eyes.
“Terdan…!”
At the end of the Great Woodlands, a colossal mountain range rose up, taking on a human form. As he stretched and spoke, the entire forest shook.
[You have come.]
What chain of events led to this situation?
As confusion threatened to fill Vera’s expression, Nartania spoke.
[You’re an awfully lazy child for making us wait so long.]
[It was not long. In comparison to our eternal lives, this moment amounted to but an instant.]
[Always arguing. You foolish lizard.]
Nartania rose to her feet.
She slithered to Vera and shoved her big, eyeless face right before him.
[Hmm…]
It was silent and tense.
At the end of that, Nartania laughed.
[I didn’t expect you to keep your promise this way.]
Vera’s eyes flashed.
He already knew which promise she was referring to. There had to be something related buried in his recovered memories.
– I will free you from your boredom.
It was the promise he made from his previous life, to rouse her from the stupor of eternal life.
Nartania’s words were surely related to that.
Vera’s lips moved slightly.
“…I require an explanation.”
[It’s not complicated.]
One of Nartania’s hands caressed Vera’s cheek.
[Cute child, surely Ardain told you? The time has come for our mission to end.]
Maleus added.
[We are no longer needed on this land. It is time to return.]
Hyria rolled over and stood up straight.
The pure white hand stroking Hyria’s jaw spoke.
[Back to the Parent’s embrace.]
Vera’s expression went blank.
In that moment, Locrion concluded their words.
[Hear me, final sacrifice. Open the gates of heaven using our flesh as the entrance.]
Six Ancient Species stared straight at Vera.
After hesitating for a moment, Vera replied.
“…May I go as well?”
[Isn’t that why you came?]
Nartania’s shoulders shook gently.
[To beg for that woman to be returned to you.]
Her continuous smile at this happy encounter brought up an emotion Vera hadn’t felt in a long time.
“V-Vera…!”
Aisha tried to mediate this bizarre atmosphere while Friede began to laugh and added.
“The preparations are complete. Use what remains of Ardain’s existence within you to return them to the heavens.”
Ardain’s existence.
This too was something Vera knew of.
No, it was more accurate to say that he could sense it.
He had felt this foreign sensation ever since Renee mended his soul. That must be what they referred to.
Nartania asked.
[Then, do you need time to prepare your heart?]
Vera replied.
“I’m ready.”
His gaze directly met Nartania’s.
“There’s no reason to wait longer.”
As he said, no more waiting was needed for Vera.
After spending what seemed like an eternity binding himself, he was now moving forward. There was no purpose in pausing to think when his goal lay just ahead.
[…Very well.]
Nartania stepped back.
[Then, let’s go.]
She spread all twelve arms to form a mudra.
Maleus unleashed hell.
Locrion’s skies opened up.
Gorgan’s waves stirred the earth.
Terdan’s land began rising up.
Aedrin’s branches fluttered about.
Whoosh—!
It could be called a scene straight out of the legends.
Amidst that, Vera extended his hand and followed the instinctive sensation that arose.
Buuuzzzz—
From his fingertips, a pure white light unleashed.
The light gently floated toward the center of the miracle.
[Well, it was fun.]
With Nartania’s whisper, Vera’s vision faded to white.
***
Renee focused on the sensations she was feeling.
The whooshing sound of wind sweeping by, the warm heat touching her skin, the scent of manure carried on the breeze from somewhere in the distance, and the feeling of low-quality rough fabric on her body.
‘…Remeo.’
This place was Remeo in Horden.
It was her hometown, where she was born and raised.
‘It starts here.’
Having traveled back in time, it seemed that she would need to prepare everything step by step from this point on.
– You must construct measures impervious to the entanglements of time. For that, a single measure will require a single lifetime.
A measure that transcended time.
It was similar to the Grimoire by the Dream Demon in her previous life.
To create a single future that killed Alaysia and saved Vera, such measures had to be positioned at all the right moments for him to encounter.
Renee estimated the number of times in her head.
‘A future where Vera arrives in Remeo on time, a future where we spend time together in Elia, where he meets Gillie in the Great Woodlands to receive the artifact and save Sir Dovan, then…’
Stopping Annalise in the Empire, reaching the Academy, meeting the orcs again, and passing through the Cradle of the Dead before reaching Oben.
With so many journeys to coordinate, she would likely have to repeat these endless regressions countless times.
Perhaps her mind would break down beyond repair in that process.
Fear suddenly surfaced within her.
Realizing that, Renee placed a hand over her chest.
What she held in her palm was a cross. It was an object that shouldn’t exist in this timeline.
The object she had stubbornly dragged along with her, even at the bitter end, held traces of warmth.
‘I can do it.’
Renee smiled.
As long as she had this warmth, she wouldn’t give up no matter how much time passed. Even if she broke down again and again, she would stand back up.
Renee feared nothing.
Tap—
It was a crude wooden cane compared to the one she always carried.
As it tapped the ground, Renee walked on.
At that moment, a voice called out.
“Saint.”
Renee’s eyes went wide, then crumbled in despair.
She was faced with reality once again.
This was still the first life, when nothing had begun yet.
The Vera now wasn’t by her side.
“…Did you come from the Holy Kingdom?”
Renee spoke to Rohan, who had called out to her.
Rohan grew immensely flustered, scratching his head roughly at the sight of her on the verge of tears.
“Uh, um… so…”
A cold sweat drenched his whole body as he panicked.
It was because he couldn’t understand why Renee was shedding tears.
A bitter smile tugged at Renee’s lips.
“…Let’s go. You’ve come to bring me with you, yes?”
Rohan’s head drooped down.
“Yes…”
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