Book 1 Chapter 499
499.
Below the faded gray sky.
Five people were sitting around a campfire.
It was almost sunset.
In the current world, even the day is gloomy, but the night is even more terrible.
Even for them, accustomed to expeditions, moving carelessly at night is not easy.
Luna, who had taken off her shoes and socks in front of the campfire, wiggled her toes, warming the soles of her feet over the fire.
This was because demon blood had gotten into her shoes during the recent battle.
Luna flapped the soles of her feet to dry them quickly and said,
“Kyle, I want to eat meat. Cook me some meat.”
Kyle frowned, looking at Luna who was preparing a meal at another campfire, her head tilted back.
“You’re an elf, why are you so fond of meat?”
Contrary to popular belief, elves also eat meat.
But it’s very rare for them to seek it out like that.
“In my opinion, this elf is a pseudo-elf.”
Luna snorted at Dweno, who sat in front of the campfire and spoke.
“Humph! An elf is an elf, what’s a pseudo-elf?”
Then she clapped her feet together.
Meanwhile, Lyssinus returned after scouting with Arion.
“There’s no sign of demons or monsters in this area.”
“We can rest peacefully tonight.”
Kyle sighed softly and put more logs into the campfire.
As evening fell, the five people sat around the campfire and ate.
“If Erebus hadn’t appeared, what kind of lives would we be living?”
Then Arion asked with a curious expression.
Seeing Arion, Kyle said,
“There’s no ‘if.’ Why bother thinking about such useless things?”
At the curt remark, Arion’s ears drooped.
But no one agreed with that statement.
“No. Arion’s words are not useless.”
Dweno put down his spoon and said,
“What we would have been like if Erebus hadn’t appeared. Isn’t that precisely what we will be like in the future after we defeat Erebus?”
“I agree with Dweno.”
“That sounds like a fun thought?!”
Lyssinus nodded with a smile, and Luna’s eyes sparkled.
Imagination.
It is one of the great powers that sustain this world heading towards destruction.
For the imagination of a distant future soon transforms into hope.
Even if it's difficult to achieve… even if it's currently a completely meaningless delusion.
If it makes one look forward to tomorrow, then it was an act of great significance.
“Arion, what kind of life do you think you’d be living?”
At Dweno’s question, Arion’s eyes widened, and he scratched his head.
“Since I’m strong. Wouldn’t I follow in my master’s footsteps, build an orphanage, and live peacefully farming?”
He spoke of a humble dream with a shy smile.
Even if it seemed humble to the four people.
To those born in the age of calamity, it was an unimaginably grand dream.
A normal daily life had been lost long ago, and the generation of calamity lived in a world filled only with lament.
“That’s certainly a good dream.”
Lyssinus smiled cheerfully.
For the dragon with the grand dream of saving the world, the ordinary life Arion dreamed of was one of the things he most wanted to reclaim.
“Dweno, you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’d be renowned as an incredible artist.”
Luna sneered at Dweno, who spoke as if it were no big deal.
“No. You’d definitely be on the wanted list in various countries for saying perverted things to royalty.”
Dweno struck Luna’s head with a thick fist, as she burst into laughter.
Ignoring Luna, who was clutching her head and tearing up, Dweno looked at Lyssinus.
“And you?”
“I…”
Lyssinus rested his chin on his hand and smiled.
“Wouldn’t I have been quietly upholding the order of the world in the darkness?”
Lyssinus was a Black Dragon.
One who protects the world’s order from the darkness.
But no one agreed with Lyssinus’s words.
“The light you possess cannot be hidden just by trying to hide it.”
“Yeah. Lyssinus would have definitely done something amazing even if Erebus hadn’t existed!”
“He would have been famous.”
Dweno, Arion, and Luna successively refuted Lyssinus’s words.
Lyssinus, the savior of the world and a radiant light, living in darkness?
It was unimaginable.
Lyssinus scratched his cheek at his comrades’ words.
“Ahem! Then it’s my turn!”
Luna puffed out her chest.
“I would definitely have been a great archmage in history, even more famous than now. Because I could have devoted myself solely to magic research! Surely all mages would have knelt before me and paid their respects?”
Arion stared blankly and clapped, and Lyssinus burst out laughing, seeing Luna’s smug expression.
Dweno shook his head.
But he didn’t deny it.
Because Luna would have certainly achieved that and more.
“Kyle?”
Luna asked, her eyes sparkling.
“He’d probably just be doing mercenary work somewhere.”
Lyssinus and Dweno gave a bitter smile at Kyle’s indifferent remark.
“I think Kyle would have been doing something amazing too?”
Arion tilted his head.
But Kyle scoffed.
“Not at all.”
Having answered, Kyle focused on his meal.
After that, the five people talked spiritedly about the future after defeating Erebus.
Their own grand dreams they wished to achieve.
What they wanted to do when the era of peace arrived.
They talked about countless things.
To forget the despair before their eyes and to see the distant future.
Kyle also occasionally interjected or agreed, enjoying the conversation with them.
But he never ultimately spoke about what he wanted to do in the future.
“Kyle, you know.”
After dinner.
Luna, who was in charge of washing the dishes today, asked Lyssinus, her partner for the chore, as they washed the dishes.
“What kind of dream does he live with?”
Lyssinus paused at Luna’s question.
“Well.”
Clink.
Washing a spoon, Lyssinus gave a bitter smile.
“Perhaps he doesn’t have one?”
“What?”
Luna’s eyes widened.
Lyssinus, the five heroes brought together by choice.
They were five individuals of different races, age groups, ideologies, beliefs, and principles.
Perhaps if it weren't for the special circumstances of the Age of Calamity, they would never have united and acted as one.
Half a year had passed since the five gathered.
They still didn’t know much about each other.
Even so, Luna knew that these five heroes shared a strong bond.
That was the desire to move forward into the future.
It also meant that they had a future they wanted to see.
Luna thought that Kyle, though he didn’t talk about it, surely had a future he envisioned.
Therefore, Lyssinus’s answer was unexpected.
“Kyle is different from us.”
“Different?”
“You, Arion, and Dweno willingly joined my expedition. But Kyle wasn’t like that.”
“You said he was very uncooperative at first, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“If he was difficult to persuade, couldn’t you have just sought out me, or the Guardian of the Azure Sky, or Dweno first?”
“I thought of that… but following Kyle around made me even more certain.”
Clatter-
Lyssinus said, looking at his face reflected in the spoon.
“Kyle was the first step.”
“Because of Kyle’s mana characteristics?”
“No.”
Lyssinus calmly shook his head.
“Among us, from the moment the Age of Calamity began until now. Isn’t Kyle perhaps the only one who has continuously fought on the front lines?”
The Surviving Hero.
That title wasn't earned simply by being the only one alive while all comrades died.
Kyle had always lived a mercenary life on the front lines.
As if that was his rightful place.
He always stood on the front lines against Tartarus.
What that implied was simple.
Losing countless comrades.
Watching those he fought alongside on the same battlefield die.
It meant he had witnessed continuous defeats with his own eyes.
He was clearly different from Lyssinus, who waited for the opportune moment to save the world.
Luna, who fought to protect her hometown.
Arion, who honed his strength in his master’s shadow.
And Dweno, who wandered the world fighting.
“Kyle must be the only person who watched the world crumble in real-time.”
Everyone else would have died or been broken and fled.
But the Surviving Hero was different.
No one would point fingers if he passed the burden to someone else.
No one would mock or blame him if he fled.
“But for reasons unknown, Kyle was always on the front lines, as if that was his place.”
Lyssinus recalled Kyle’s back.
“Seeing Kyle fight, I understood. Ah, if this person gives up, the world will truly end.”
When Lyssinus reached out his hand, asking him to save the world, Kyle scoffed at him.
He called it a lie.
He said the world was beyond saving.
‘It really was a lie. The probability of this world being saved is close to zero. But…’
Lyssinus recalled Kyle at Gardeslon.
Ironically, Kyle’s back, fighting on the front lines, affirmed Lyssinus’s lie.
“Kyle was cool back then.”
She blushed slightly and smiled.
A fresh emotion, unlike the usual Lyssinus.
Luna, blinking at Lyssinus, said,
“Are you sick? Your face is red.”
“What?”
Lyssinus flustered, then quickly composed her expression.
And she checked Luna’s demeanor, wondering if her feelings had been exposed.
But Luna was genuinely concerned.
‘Thank goodness, she’s an idiot.’
To quote Kyle, Luna was a magic idiot who knew nothing but magic.
“Anyway, isn’t it that Kyle’s heart has faded from having so many difficult experiences?”
“Huh?”
“It must be hard to even think of a path he wants to take. So he’s probably still searching. For what he wants to do.”
The flame of calamity must have taken not only dead comrades and the world from the Surviving Hero.
It must have burned away the future too, leaving only ashes.
“Just like this damned sky.”
A faded gray sky.
“Humph! I can’t stand gloomy things.”
Luna snorted after finishing the dishes and sprang to her feet.
“What are you going to do?”
“You said Kyle is looking for what he wants to do, right? Then I’ll allow him to board my grand dream.”
Luna smiled smugly.
“Since he’s a mage, he’ll surely be captivated once he hears my grand plan.”
With such confidence, Luna strutted over to Kyle.
Lyssinus smiled, watching her go.
‘Not bad.’
He himself was a mage after all.
His interest in Luna’s dream was piqued.
‘After the world is saved, should I join her too?’
***
“Kyle!”
A little distance from the campsite.
Kyle, sitting alone on a rock, glanced at Luna, who was suddenly smiling brightly next to him.
“I’ve been thinking a lot, you know.”
“About what?”
“After we save the world and have nothing to do, how about we create a magic school together?”
“What?”
“I’ll be the principal. And you’ll be the vice principal. We contribute to the development of magic together? How about it? It’s a great idea, right?”
Kyle replied indifferently, looking at Luna who was suddenly making the suggestion, her eyes sparkling.
“I’m good. It’s a bother.”
At his words, Luna pouted.
“Do you really have nothing you want to do?”
“No.”
Luna plumped down next to Kyle, watching him speak so definitively.
“I don’t understand. You’re so versatile, aren’t you? It seems like you could be anything you want.”
The ability of an All-Class.
To Luna, it was an all-encompassing talent that allowed him to be anything he wished.
“What a waste.”
Kyle chuckled at Luna’s murmur.
“Indeed.”
“But Kyle, you’ve kept fighting, haven’t you? And you’ll keep fighting.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Luna looked puzzled.
If he had nothing he wanted to do, what was the meaning of the future?
“You’re particularly persistent today.”
“My curiosity is piqued, you know? You know how mages are; they can’t stand it when their curiosity is stirred.”
Seeing Luna grin, Kyle said,
“I have nothing I want to do and nothing I want to be. But I do have a future I want to see.”
“What is it?”
“I want to see your future.”
Kyle said with a warm smile.
Luna’s eyes widened slightly.
“If we defeat that damned primordial evil. You’ll definitely become the greatest archmage in history.”
“Ah.”
Luna unconsciously gasped, looking at Kyle, who affirmed her dream.
“If that happens, I’ll expose how peculiar your personality truly is.”
Kyle chuckled, thinking it would be funny just imagining it.
Normally, Luna would have punched him instantly, but she was spellbound by the smile that had just crossed her mind.
He had nothing he wanted to do, yet his affirmation of her dream captivated her heart.
From some moment, her heart began to pound.
Her ears kept twitching accordingly.
By the time she realized her face was flushed, she had quickly turned her head in the opposite direction.
It was a feeling she had never experienced before, but Luna knew what was happening.
‘Oh no. I can’t look at his face.’
Luna realized.
That she had fallen for this cynical man.
She composed her emotions and subtly glanced at Kyle.
Kyle still had an indifferent expression.
A man who didn't give up, though he could no longer dream.
Seeing the man who wandered, searching for a place to go, Luna cleared her throat.
“I’ll be your future.”
“What?”
“If you can’t draw a future, I’ll be your unchanging dream.”
Luna said primly, her face slightly flushed.
“So that your life can connect to mine.”
Luna felt her neck redden all the way.
“Huh, impressive, Luna. You said you disliked high elves, yet you mimic their dignified speech well.”
“EEK?!”
Luna shrieked at Dweno’s voice from behind.
“W-when?”
“I’ve been here for a while, haven’t I?”
Dweno grinned, a sly and unpleasant smile.
Luna's mouth hung open.
‘Anyway, a confession right after confirming her feelings. Luna certainly goes straight for it.’
Luna’s words from a moment ago were words of courtship among high elves.
Of course, even if Kyle didn’t know that, he would surely sense something from Luna’s demeanor.
‘Lyssinus will be in a bind.’
It was when Dweno stroked his chin.
“Why are you suddenly imitating a high elf, so uncharacteristically? Did you drink?”
“What?”
Kyle said indifferently.
“You… don’t understand what I mean?”
“What do you mean?”
Thwack—!
Luna punched Kyle directly in the face and huffed off furiously.
“This…”
Just as Kyle was clutching his face, about to retaliate against Luna.
“Kyle. I must say this one thing.”
“What thing?”
“You are certainly an idiot.”
***
Luna stroked her cheek, recalling the distant past.
‘I vowed back then. That I’d make that bastard like me first.’
Luna made a sullen face.
Of course, her plan failed when she confessed her feelings first in the hero’s world. But her desire to dye Kyle’s ash-filled heart with various colors remained.
‘Is this my lingering attachment?’
Such a thought crossed her mind, but Luna shook her head as she watched Kyle walk, talking with Eiran and Chen Xia.
‘That’s not it.’
She had boasted she would be Kyle’s future.
That she would take him aboard her dream.
Yet, it was she who entrusted her future and dreams to him.
The moment she entrusted everything to Kyle, this feeling was no longer a lingering attachment.
‘Speaking of which… I miss him.’
Luna smiled, watching Kyle talk with his disciple’s descendants.
That sight reminded her of her disciple.
‘I miss Berkyia.’
Luna’s ears twitched, a faint smile on her face.
‘Berkyia?’
Her disciple, whom she had left behind, remained in her heart.
“Ah.”
Luna’s eyes widened.
“Ah!”
Leo turned around at Luna’s scream.
“Why?”
Luna shouted, looking at Kyle, who asked with a puzzled expression.
“I get it! It’s Berkyia!”