‘After that, I wandered aimlessly in search of other relics of the past. The place where the last descendant of the dragon had once lived, the ruins of the lake library that melted away along with tens of thousands of books during the disaster of fire, even the island beneath the sea where the oldest spirit in the world was said to dwell.’

There wasn’t a single name that sounded familiar. They were likely traces of a time before the Great Cataclysm, once existing in Luma’s era, now forgotten by all.

‘After visiting all those places, I came to a realization.’

‘Those who endlessly rotted and sickened this continent. Even those foul things I never wished to recall again had beginnings that were incredibly brilliant. Once you strip away the embellished parts of those dazzling legends, a surprisingly simple truth emerges.’

‘Even the ancestors of those in power now, who have fled and hidden in the South, were once known as heroes who overcame death and saved the world. The origin of the corrupt priests who now wallow in filth was someone more devout than anyone else, a savior who acted for the world through the voice of the divine. The traces of spirit-summoners, now remembered only by aged spirits, live on in faint stories that they, too, tried to save the world—and the dragons, said to be powerful enough to support the sky against falling stars, have disappeared forever, leaving behind only a few bone fragments and weak human descendants.’

‘They all saved the world, and saved it again—and yet, why does the world keep falling into danger, over and over again?’

‘Then what exactly was it that they saved?’

‘What were the things my friend and I tried so hard to protect?’

Since returning to the past, Yuder had been running nonstop to save the world from the calamity that only he remembered. And now, this was the final message left behind by the great mage who had walked a path much like his own.

“......”

He furrowed his brow and turned the page. Seeing the opposite page blank, it seemed this was the last of what Luma had left behind.

‘To me, who was left with a deep and empty question, a spirit I met at my final destination told a new story.’

‘That spirit, whose age was impossible to determine, like other spirits, was only awaiting the moment it would fade away.’

‘It asked me if I had ever truly felt how human it is to speak of saving the world. I had no answer.’

‘—We hear the world’s breath every moment. If you understand that it is a living being, you’ll realize how meaningless all of this truly is. If one claims to desire salvation and yet continues to cut the limbs of the land they live on, to make the blood never stop flowing, what meaning could that possibly hold?’

‘I asked what that meant. The spirit gave no answer. It merely left one final, self-willed remark.’

‘—It will continue to repeat. As long as the world’s breath doesn’t cease, those like you, born from the blood the world has shed, will keep appearing......’

Luma wrote that he was never able to speak to the spirit again. And then he wrote this:

‘There is only one conclusion I gained through my long journey. This world continues to repeat its periods of destruction. Those who overcome it become remembered in history—sometimes as the first priest, sometimes as a hero. Though the process may not always be the same, if I’m right, the great calamity we stopped will one day come again. As the first priest once warned, if the world is shaken by evil, and as the prophet of the wolf who returned from death foretold, if the fragile balance once maintained is shattered once more...’

‘The fact that they all left behind warnings to future generations feels significant. Even my friend left behind such a testament. Though even I, who sent him back to the past, do not know clearly what happened, perhaps my friend, who truly returned from death, saw and felt some hidden secret of this world.’

Is that so? Yuder too had returned from death, but he had felt nothing so tremendous—not yet.

Still, perhaps with time, that might change. Yuder made sure to carve that part clearly and deeply into his mind.

‘I now know what I must do. After stopping the greatest calamity, I must once again follow the path of the vow shared only between my friend and me on that modest night of celebration.’

‘At the time, drunk, I said I didn’t know what I would do if this wasn’t the end. I even murmured that perhaps building a wall would be the only way to feel safe. My friend did not mock my weakness. Instead, he told me a story—a legend of a once-great nation that had built a high wall to protect against a monstrous threat that might appear one day.’

‘So we decided to build a new fortress, a safe wall, at the place where the greatest number of people had fallen. Simply because we were afraid of a future that had not yet arrived.’

‘Back then, to me, it was merely fear of an uncertain future—but now that I think about it, my friend already had a certain conviction at that time. An incomprehensible certainty that seemed to transcend everything.’

‘Now, I feel the same certainty my friend once had. With the power he protected and left for me, I want to carry on his will and prevent another great calamity that may repeat in the future.’

‘But human life is short and limited. No matter how great a person may be, they cannot sustain their will beyond a hundred years. Perhaps that is why a new hero must always appear—why the warnings of previous heroes become diluted. When I die, I won’t even be able to confirm if my thoughts were right, and even if another hero appears, I will never be able to meet them.’

‘But I have no intention of giving up. The moment I finish writing this, I will depart on a new journey to find a way to resolve it.’

‘For the things my friend and I wanted to protect. For the sake of my small fruit.’

‘Toward an unknown future......’

The rest was blank. Yuder, just in case, checked to the very last page before closing the cover.

The content was so unexpected that his mind spun. It felt more exhausting than a full day of intense training. As he let out a sigh, the shoulder behind him—the man supporting his back—reacted.

"Was there something unpleasant? Your expression darkened."

The man turned his head and asked gently. Yuder looked into his clear face and sighed again.

"Did you manage to gain anything useful?"

It meant his head hurt too much to explain what he had just read. Kishiar, perceptive as always, read the signal perfectly and smiled, playing along.

"Hmm. I gained quite a bit. I found out that my beloved used to really like milk made with spring flowers when he was little. So much so that he went down into the city three times beyond the mountains just to get more."

A faint memory stirred in Yuder’s mind—some drink he used to have often as a child.

"Ah... Yes. My grandfather used to buy Rembo and often made Remprit with it."

"So it’s called Remprit. What does it taste like?"

"Think of it as milk with a tart fruit flavor. Though in my memory, it seemed my grandfather liked it even more than I did."

"There’s even a record of him buying charcoal pens and paper to teach you writing. But a few months later, it all disappeared, so..."

"Hmm, yes. I wasn’t exactly a child who studied diligently."

He answered honestly, and Kishiar burst into laughter.

"I wasn’t a diligent student either. We would’ve gotten along just fine from a young age."

"But you like books, don’t you?"

"Reading books and studying are different things. I always skipped class and got punished, while His Majesty my brother never missed a single one. One time, we both fell into a frozen lake in winter, and while I used that as an excuse to sneak off to Zone 2, His Majesty dragged himself—feverish and soaked—to the classroom ahead of the teacher, lugging a stack of books, only to collapse from the heat, causing the attendants who saw him to faint on the spot..."

Kishiar’s stories of his troublemaking prince days were far more entertaining than Yuder’s own childhood tales. Immersed in them, Yuder forgot his headache and his swirling thoughts. When he came to, Kishiar’s mischievously smiling red eyes were [N O V E L I G H T] right in front of him.

‘Ah.’

"Feeling better now?"

"...Yes."

"Good. Then will you tell me now? What made you wear that expression?"