Chapter 380 |
Tomorrow (4)
The old grounds of Londinel.
Perched on a crumbled section of wall, the two of them raised their cups. Dried meat had been set out as a snack, but Kirchhoff seemed to need no other accompaniment, sipping his drink with the ruins of Londinel itself as his pairing.
He thought of the past.
Of days that had shone.
Londinel had been humanity's march warden, the wall that held back the Outland. The one nation that could stand equal to the Empire. Here he had been born, had grown up, had become a man, and had become a Constellation.
"......"
Memories flickered through Kirchhoff's mind like a lantern reel, from a childhood spent in the slums all the way to the present. He sipped from his cup with those memories as his accompaniment. He could recall all of it now.
His sovereign's laughter, the voices and cheers of citizens passing in the streets, the teachings of the master who had made him a knight. Every last piece of it he could now bring back whole.
Kirchhoff murmured to himself.
"I can't remember the last time I drank something this good. This is no ordinary vintage, that much is certain."
"The chairman who procured it told me it was remarkably difficult to find. Word is she half-stole it from a Constellation's storage."
"Ha hah hah! Of course,if you want wine aged for centuries, you'd have to raid a Constellation's cellar. That chairman must be no ordinary woman herself."
She really wasn't.
Dieta was a pillar of the Empire, personally acquainted with several Constellations, and close to Najin both publicly and privately. Thanks to that standing, even Transcendents who had lived for centuries sometimes found themselves watching Dieta's mood before they made a move.
"So then."
Najin sipped his cup and tossed out the question lightly.
"What do you intend to do with yourself now?"
The question was met with silence. Brief to most people, but among Transcendents it stretched like several hours before Kirchhoff finally opened his mouth.
"Originally, I planned to kill myself."
"Is that so."
"Yes. I was living only because I could not die. Because my sovereign had left me a request, because I had not yet achieved my revenge, because it would be too shameful to close my eyes as a useless knight who had failed to protect his nation and his lord,I kept my life going on excuses like those."
Without excuses like those, he could not have endured. That was how Kirchhoff had survived three hundred years.
"You're not surprised. Did you already know?"
"To some extent."
"Ah, right. You hold the Star of the Funeral March, don't you? The one that draws you naturally toward those who wish for death."
Najin smiled, a little bitter.
"Having been present at the final moments of several Constellations, I started to see it after a while. Ah, this person is wishing for death. This person wants peace. Things like that."
"...Good grief. I thought I had that well hidden, but it seems you saw right through me."
Kirchhoff scratched the back of his neck, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Then is that also why you came to find me today?"
Najin shook his head.
"I simply came for a drink."
"Oh?"
"Because you had already reached your own answer, hadn't you? Offering unsolicited advice to someone who has settled on their path would be rather graceless."
At that, Kirchhoff burst out laughing.
"True enough. I had been thinking of dying, but then I came face to face with my sovereign in that place, and my thinking shifted a little. She always gives me a reason to live. Three hundred years later and she still does. Really......"
His sovereign had spoken.
That he was a hero.
Raise your head, square your shoulders, plant the banner of Londinel and walk proudly at the front. You have every right to do so. With those words she had pushed Kirchhoff forward.
"I am the Last Knight of Londinel."
Kirchhoff looked out over Londinel. It lay in ruins, but in his memory it still stood.
"How Londinel's final chapter is written in history depends entirely on how I live. If I achieve my purpose and then die by my own hand, the story ends as nothing more than a tale of vengeance. But......"
He smiled, easy and fine.
"What if I live as humanity's bulwark? The nation of Londinel may have fallen, but the Last Knight of Londinel still stands as a guardian wall protecting humanity! Kirchhoff, March Warden of Humanity! What magnificent verse that makes."
If it came to that, the bards would gladly sing Kirchhoff's story. The tale of Londinel would be dressed not as a revenge saga but as an epic tale.
"That was my sovereign's wish."
And.
"Now it is my wish as well."
Kirchhoff drained his cup, let out a long breath, and pointed at himself.
"From a young age I wanted to be a hero. There's nothing quite like hearing people praise you. I can't afford to let this chance to be remembered as a magnificent hero slip away."
"Ah, it does feel wonderful, doesn't it."
"Ha ha! Of course, our greatest knight would know that feeling well."
And so Kirchhoff laughed for a good while. Not a forced laugh,a genuine one, born of real joy.
"So do not feel sorry for me."
"......"
"It is not your responsibility. Why should you feel responsible for something that happened before you were even born? The Knights of the Round Table going astray was entirely their own choice. A person can only be responsible for their own life."
Even if you inherited their stars, you need feel no responsibility for their sins. Kirchhoff said that and gave Najin a couple of firm pats on the shoulder.
"A man bent on revenge,who would have either died after achieving it or slowly worn himself down without ever achieving it,you saved him. More than that, you made him a hero. I am grateful for everything you have done."
The liar who had performed being a knight had become a knight.
The man who had wanted to die while performing being a hero had become a hero.
"I mean every word. When I called you my dearest friend, there was not a single ounce of pretense in it. And I have no intention of letting it go with just a few words."
Kirchhoff rose to his feet.
"I, Kirchhoff, Last Knight of Londinel, make this oath."
Standing upright on the crumbled wall of Londinel's old grounds, he looked at Najin and declared it. From the Blue Spear planted in the wall, the banner of Londinel snapped in the wind.
"Whenever you call for me, I will come without a moment's hesitation. Even if that place is hell itself."
"It will likely be a truly grueling battlefield. Are you certain?"
"Ah, that is precisely what I hope for. How could a hero walk an easy road? Hard work always makes the drink afterward taste better. Just like this cup right now."
The two men laughed.
"When that day comes, let's have another drink."
"I'd like that. You'll be the one providing it this time, yes?"
"Of course. Feel free to look forward to it."
Clink. The last cups touched.
Both men moved off toward their own paths. The roads ahead were different, but the destination was the same. So they would meet again without fail.
Looking forward to that day, Najin walked on.
2.
"Strange. As I recall, there was someone who agreed to a bet with me back then. What was it they said again... I distinctly remember a certain smile and the words, 'I'm one step ahead, aren't I? Kid?'"
Roselin was dripping with cold sweat, unable to lift her head. It was because of the young man sitting at ease across from her. Given his standing, her inability to raise her eyes was perfectly understandable.
The Empire's Sword Master, its cornerstone, heir to King Arthur and master of Excalibur, a renowned Transcendent bearing nine stars alone.
That single title would have been more than enough to bring Roselin to her knees, yet she now sat before a young man who held more than ten such titles, groaning inwardly. I challenged someone like that to a bet? Well, it had seemed like a fair bet at the time.
"B-back then I was still a bit young......"
"I was younger than you, if I recall."
That was true.
"Isn't it a bit much for someone with nine stars to tease me over my measly four? I've been working hard in my own way, you know. Two stars in a short amount of time is no small......"
"Ah, ten now, actually."
"What?"
"By Grand Mage Merlin's classification system, that would qualify as a Grand Constellation, yes? I'm rather remarkable."
"You can't just......"
Roselin choked on her words, left speechless. Watching her reaction, Najin let out a quiet laugh and relaxed his posture. Time to stop teasing her. She's going to actually collapse if I keep it up.
"In all seriousness, congratulations on clearing the Black Spire. And on the reunion."
"Mm, thank you!"
Rena, seated behind them, beamed and waved. The smile had not left her face since achieving the reunion she had longed for so deeply.
"Every day is so happy now. All those centuries I held on inside that tower were worth it. I kept hoping maybe this day would come someday, and here it actually has!"
She seemed intent on making up for everything she'd missed, busily crafting this and that for her daughter. The "this and that" were mostly magical tools, and their quality was no ordinary thing.
The Platinum Tower Master would faint seeing this.
Even the Platinum Tower Master, whose fame for crafting magical tools was unmatched, would have to concede ground to what was being produced here in real time. Then again, what is a witch? A species beloved by magic itself. Their depth of understanding toward magic is simply different.
Artifacts fit for tower masters were being produced in bulk. Imagining Roselin armed with those artifacts, Najin couldn't help but smile.
She might actually manage power rivaling a Transcendent's.
"So you plan to stay here for a while?"
"Mm, we still have so much to talk about. And I need to look after her a bit. My girl is far too fragile. If she keeps getting knocked around by every stray nuisance, I won't be able to stand it. It would break my heart."
After escaping the Black Spire, Rena had immediately found herself a place in the Outland and was living there with Roselin. Word was they intended to live together for some time.
"So as her parent I have to teach her. How to survive in this harsh world."
Roselin's shoulders gave a small tremble.
Najin offered a silent prayer for Roselin, who was now to receive guidance from Rena,once as powerful as Lapis, one of the top five witches by any measure.
"Rena."
"Mm, you called?"
"Are you happy right now?"
"You call that a question? Of course I'm happy! Tomorrow feels like it'll be even happier. It's all thanks to you. Call on me any time you need help!"
Watching Rena laugh with that genuine joy, Najin gave a small nod. Rena and Albert's love had ended in tragedy, but their story had not ended as one.
He watched Rena laughing and chatting with her daughter for a moment, then walked on.
* * *
"For now, I have no intention of merging."
"Pardon?"
"Well, merging is possible right now if I wanted to. The Constellation of Oblivion has been defeated, and the barrier between me and Razian has disappeared."
The personality of the Warden of the Sealed City was Yuel; the personality of the order's executioner was Razian. That seemed to be the distinction they had settled on between themselves.
"But if I do that now, I absorb the Razian side. Not a blending of the two,a picture where one personality swallows the other whole."
Yuel said.
"My side has the deeper color right now, you see. If you dissolve deeply colored paint into clear water, the water just takes on that color entirely, doesn't it?"
"That's true."
"That's not the picture I want. It's closer to silencing and killing off one side, and Razian has her own life too, doesn't she? I want to respect her life."
Well, it is my life too.
Muttering that, Yuel smiled.
"Razian is just now beginning to feel emotions. The clear water her soul once was is starting to take on some color. So I'll wait until she has felt enough, until she finds her own color and reaches the point where I can no longer simply swallow her,and then we'll merge."
Saying that, Yuel gave a quiet laugh.
"So please, do what you can."
"Why are you looking at me."
"Then who the hell else would I look at."
Poke, poke. Yuel jabbed her elbow into Najin's side and closed her eyes.
"Anyway, I'll be counting on you going forward. Najin. Both me, and Razian. Feel free to try your hand at winning over that other me somehow."
"That's a rather odd way to put it......"
"Is it wrong though? You're quite the expert."
Both Yuel and Razian had settled on their own ways forward. Najin ate with Razian, who was just beginning to learn what emotions felt like, and spent some time traveling around the Empire with her.
During that brief period, a minor incident occurred in which Dieta and Merlin glared at the two of them with wide, sharp eyes,but that is a story for another day.
3.
After things had settled down.
"I thought defeating the Carnival King would be the end of the Outland, but there turned out to be more to handle than I expected."
"Well, that's how it tends to go."
Najin sat at the peak of his tower, catching his breath. Merlin sat beside him, dangling her legs in the air and gazing down over the Empire's landscape.
"The Star of Omniscience, Siegfried, Guinevere and Lancelot,there was quite a lot. So? Do you feel like those experiences helped?"
"Obviously. I gained another star too. Only one more to go before I match Merlin, right?"
"Honestly. How many years has it been since you started traveling and you've already racked up ten stars?"
Merlin laughed softly.
"So? Have you thought about your next destination?"
Najin was quiet for a moment.
"I do have somewhere in mind. There's a promise I made, after all."
"A promise?"
"Yes, one made about a thousand years ago."
"A thousand years ago?"
Merlin blinked.
"What are you talking about. You're not even out of your twenties."
"It may have been just an instant for me, but that person really did wait a thousand years. Making them wait any longer would be a bit much."
"Who is this person?"
Najin pointed at Merlin.
"Merlin."
The next destination. Before heading to the Abyss, there was one last place Najin needed to stop.
The Eternal City.
The Eternal City, or nation.
The Tomb of Stars where the fairy Merlin would be waiting.
That was Najin's next destination.
