Beneath a faded gray sky.
Five people sat before a campfire.
It was nearly sunset.
In the current world, the days were depressing, but the nights were even more horrific.
Even for them, seasoned veterans of expeditions, moving recklessly at night was no easy feat.
Luna, who had taken off her shoes and socks in front of the fire, wiggled her toes as she warmed her soles.
It was because Demon blood had drenched the inside of her shoes during the battle earlier.
Flapping her feet to dry them faster, Luna spoke up.
“Kyle, I want meat. Cook me some meat.”
Kyle frowned as he looked at Luna, who was leaning her head back while he prepared the meal at another campfire.
“You’re an Elf. Why are you so obsessed with meat?”
Contrary to popular belief, Elves did eat meat.
However, it was very rare for one to seek it out like she did.
“In my eyes, this Elf is a Pseudo-Elf.”
Luna snorted at Dweno, who spoke as he sat by the fire.
“Hmph! An Elf is an Elf. What do you mean, Pseudo-Elf?”
As she said that, she clapped with the soles of her feet.
Meanwhile, Lysinas, who had gone out scouting with Arron, returned.
“There’s no sign of Demons or monsters in the vicinity.”
“We’ll be able to rest easy tonight, then.”
Kyle let out a small sigh and tossed another log into the fire.
As evening fell, the five of them gathered around the campfire to eat.
“If Erebos hadn’t appeared, what kind of lives would we be living?”
Arron asked then, a look of curiosity on his face.
Kyle looked at Arron and replied.
“There is no ‘if.’ Why waste time worrying about such useless things?”
Arron’s ears drooped at the blunt remark.
However, no one else agreed with Kyle’s sentiment.
“No. Arron’s words aren’t useless.”
Dweno said, putting down his spoon.
“What we would have been if Erebos hadn’t appeared... Isn’t that the same as who we will be in the future after we defeat him?”
“I agree with Dweno.”
“That sounds like a fun thing to imagine!”
Lysinas nodded with a smile, and Luna’s eyes sparkled.
Imagination.
It was one of the great strengths that allowed them to survive in this world heading toward ruin.
Because imagining the distant future soon transformed into hope.
Even if it was a delusion that seemed impossible to achieve... a meaningless fantasy for the present.
If it allowed them to look toward tomorrow, it was an act of great significance.
“Arron, what kind of life do you think you’d be living?”
At Dweno’s question, Arron’s eyes widened, and he scratched his head.
“Since I’m strong... I think I would have followed in my teacher’s footsteps, starting an orphanage and farming peacefully.”
He spoke of his modest dream with a shy smile.
Though it might have seemed humble to the other four.
For those born in the Era of Calamity, it was a grand dream beyond imagination.
Ordinary daily life had long been stolen away, and the generation of the calamity lived in a world filled with nothing but sighs.
“That is certainly a wonderful dream.”
Lysinas wore a pleasant smile.
To a Dragon with the grand dream of saving the world, the ordinary life Arron dreamed of was one of the things she wanted to reclaim most.
“Dweno, what about you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’d be famous as a magnificent artist.”
Luna jeered at Dweno as he spoke as if it were a matter of course.
“No. You definitely would have been on the wanted list for saying perverted things to the royalty of various nations.”
Dweno brought his thick fist down on the head of the cackling Luna.
Ignoring Luna, who clutched her head as tears welled in her eyes, Dweno looked at Lysinas.
“And you?”
“I...”
Lysinas rested her chin in her hand and smiled.
“Wouldn’t I have been quietly protecting the order of the world from the shadows?”
Lysinas was a Black Dragon.
One who maintained the world’s order from the darkness.
However, no one agreed with her words.
“The light you possess isn’t something that can be hidden just because you want to.”
“Yeah. Lysinas definitely would have done great things even without Erebos!”
“You would have been highly renowned.”
Dweno, Arron, and Luna took turns contradicting Lysinas.
Lysinas, the savior of the world and a brilliant light, living in the shadows?
It was unimaginable.
Lysinas scratched her cheek at her comrades’ words.
“Ahem! Then is it my turn!”
Luna puffed out her chest.
“I definitely would have been a great Archmage, even more famous than I am now. I would have been able to immerse myself solely in Magic research! Surely every mage would have knelt before me in worship?”
Arron clapped blankly at Luna’s boastful expression, while Lysinas burst into laughter.
Dweno shook his head from side to side.
Yet, he didn’t deny her words.
Because if it was Luna, she was more than capable of becoming exactly that.
“What about Kyle?”
Luna asked, her eyes twinkling.
“I’d probably be doing mercenary work somewhere.”
At Kyle’s indifferent words, Lysinas and Dweno smiled bitterly.
“I think Kyle would have been doing something amazing too.”
Arron tilted his head.
But Kyle just smirked.
“Not at all.”
After that short reply, Kyle focused back on his meal.
Following that, the five of them blossomed into conversation about the future after Erebos’s defeat.
The grand dreams they each wanted to achieve.
The things they wanted to do once the era of peace arrived.
They spoke of countless things.
To forget the despair before them and look toward the distant future.
Kyle also occasionally interjected or agreed, enjoying the conversation with them.
But in the end, he never spoke of what he wanted to do in the future.
“About Kyle...”
After the meal was over.
Luna, who was on dish duty today, asked as she washed the utensils with her partner, Lysinas.
“What kind of dream is he living for?”
Lysinas paused at Luna’s question.
“I wonder.”
Clink.
Lysinas smiled bitterly as she washed a spoon.
“Perhaps he doesn’t have one?”
“What?”
Luna’s eyes went wide.
The five Heroes gathered for Lysinas’s quest.
The five of them were all different in race, age, thought, belief, and ideology.
Perhaps if not for the special circumstance of the Era of Calamity, they never would have moved as one like this.
It had been six months since the five of them gathered.
There was still much they didn’t know about each other.
Even so, Luna knew that these five heroes shared a powerful bond.
And that was their desire to move toward the future.
That meant there was a future they wanted to see.
Luna thought that although Kyle didn’t talk about it, he surely had a future he was envisioning.
That was why Lysinas’s answer was unexpected.
“Kyle is different from us.”
“Different how?”
“You, Arron, and Dweno joined my expedition willingly. But Kyle didn’t.”
“You said he acted very defiant at first, right?”
“Yeah.”
“If he was so hard to convince, couldn’t you have just looked for me, the Azure Guardian, or Dweno first?”
“I thought about that too... but as I followed Kyle around, I became even more certain.”
Click—
Lysinas spoke as she looked at her reflection in a spoon.
“Kyle had to be the first step.”
“Because of Kyle’s Mana Trait?”
“No.”
Lysinas shook her head calmly.
“Among us, from the moment the Era of Calamity began until now... Kyle is probably the only one who has fought continuously on the front lines.”
The Surviving Hero.
That wasn’t a title earned simply because he was the only one to survive while all his comrades died.
Kyle had always lived as a mercenary on the front lines.
As if that were his rightful place.
He always stood at the forefront against Tartarus.
What that meant was simple.
He had lost countless comrades.
He had watched those fighting on the same battlefield die.
It meant he had witnessed constant defeat with his own eyes.
Lysinas, who waited for the right time to save the world.
Luna, who fought to protect her homeland.
Arron, who grew his strength under his teacher’s shadow.
He was distinctly different from Dweno, who traveled the world fighting.
“Kyle is likely the only person who watched the process of the world’s destruction in real-time.”
Everyone else would have died or been broken and fled.
But the Surviving Hero was different.
Even if he had passed the burden to someone else, no one would have pointed fingers.
Even if he had run away, no one would have mocked or blamed him.
“But for some reason, he was always on the front lines, as if it were his place to be.”
Lysinas recalled the sight of Kyle’s back.
“Watching him fight, I realized. Ah, if this man gives up, the world really is over.”
When she reached out her hand to save the world, Kyle had mocked Lysinas.
Calling it a lie.
Saying the world was beyond saving.
'In truth, it was a lie. The probability of this world being saved is near zero. But...'
Lysinas thought of Kyle at Guardslone.
Ironically, the sight of Kyle’s back as he fought on the front lines affirmed Lysinas’s lie.
“Kyle was cool back then.”
She smiled, her cheeks flushing slightly.
A youthful emotion uncharacteristic of the usual Lysinas.
Looking at her, Luna blinked and spoke.
“Are you sick? Your face is red.”
“What?”
Lysinas panicked for a moment before quickly fixing her expression.
Then, she scanned Luna’s face, wondering if her feelings had been discovered.
But Luna was genuinely worried.
'Thank goodness she’s an idiot.'
To use Kyle’s words, Luna was a Magic-idiot who knew nothing but Magic.
“Anyway, having gone through so many hardships, perhaps the light in Kyle’s heart has faded?”
“Huh?”
“It’s probably even hard for him to think of a path he wants to take. So he must be constantly searching. For what he wants to do.”
The Calamity Flame must have taken more than just dead comrades or the world from the Surviving Hero.
It must have burned away his future as well, leaving nothing but ashes.
“It’s just like this damn sky.”
The faded gray sky.
“Hmph! I can’t stand gloominess.”
Having finished the dishes, Luna snorted and jumped up from her seat.
“What are you going to do?”
“You said Kyle is looking for something he wants to do, right? Then I’m going to allow him to board my grand dream.”
Luna smiled boastfully.
“He’s a mage too, after all. Once he hears my grand plan, he’ll be hooked.”
Luna dashed off toward Kyle with a strange sense of confidence.
Watching her go, Lysinas laughed.
'Not bad.'
She was a mage too, after all.
Luna’s dream piqued her interest.
'After the world is saved, maybe I’ll join in too?'
“Kyle!”
In a spot slightly away from the camp.
Kyle, who was sitting alone on a rock, glanced at Luna, who was suddenly grinning beside him.
“I’ve been thinking long and hard.”
“About what?”
“What do you think about building a Magic school with me after we save the world and have nothing left to do?”
“What?”
“I’ll be the principal, and you’ll be the vice-principal. We’ll contribute to the advancement of Magic together. What do you think? It’s a great idea, right?”
Looking at Luna, who was making this sudden suggestion with eyes sparkling, Kyle replied indifferently.
“Count me out. It sounds like a pain.”
Luna pouted at those words.
“Do you really not have anything you want to do?”
“I don’t.”
Seeing Kyle cut her off so firmly, Luna plopped down next to him.
“I don’t get it. You’re so versatile, aren’t you? I feel like you could become anything you wanted.”
The power of All-Class.
In Luna’s eyes, it was an all-around talent that allowed him to be anything he wished.
“It’s a waste.”
Kyle smirked at Luna’s mumble.
“You can say that again.”
“But Kyle, you’ve kept fighting, haven’t you? And you’ll keep fighting in the future.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Luna wore a puzzled expression.
If he had nothing he wanted to do, what meaning did the future have?
“You’re being persistent today.”
“My curiosity was piqued. You know how it is, right? Mages can’t stand it when their curiosity is triggered.”
Kyle looked at the grinning Luna and spoke.
“I have nothing I want to do and nothing I want to become... but there is a future I want to see.”
“What is it?”
“I want to see your future.”
Kyle spoke with a faint smile.
Luna’s eyes widened slightly.
“If we defeat that damn Primordial Evil... you will surely become the greatest Archmage in history.”
“Ah.”
Luna let out an involuntary gasp as she watched Kyle affirm her dream.
“When that happens, I’ll expose just how cranky your personality really is.”
Kyle chuckled as if the thought alone was funny.
Normally, Luna would have thrown a punch immediately, but she was dazed by the smile that had just crossed his face.
The way he affirmed her dream even though he had none for himself captured her heart.
At some point, her heart began to race.
Accordingly, her ears kept twitching.
By the time she realized her face had turned red, she was already whipping her head away.
It was an emotion she was experiencing for the first time, but Luna knew exactly what this situation was.
'Oh no. I can’t look at his face.'
Luna realized it.
That she had fallen for this cynical man.
Collecting her emotions, she stole a glance at Kyle.
Kyle still wore his usual indifferent expression.
A man who could no longer dream but refused to give up.
Luna cleared her throat as she looked at the man wandering in search of a destination.
“I’ll become your future.”
“What?”
“If you can’t envision a future, I’ll become a dream for you that never changes.”
Luna spoke primly, her face slightly flushed.
“So that your life can lead into mine.”
Luna felt her face turning red all the way to her neck.
“Ha, how grand. Luna. You said you hated High Elves, but you’re quite good at mimicking their elegant words.”
“Hieek?!”
Luna was terrified by Dweno’s voice coming from behind.
“S-Since when?”
“I’ve been here for a while.”
Dweno wore a sly, unpleasant grin.
Luna’s mouth hung open.
'Anyway, to confess as soon as she realized her feelings... Luna is definitely a straight shooter.'
Luna’s words just now were words of courtship used among High Elves.
Of course, even if one didn’t know that, anyone who saw the atmosphere around Luna would have felt something.
'Lysinas is going to have a hard time.'
It was just as Dweno was stroking his chin.
“Why are you suddenly mimicking High Elves so out of character? Are you drunk?”
“What?”
Kyle asked indifferently.
“Do you... not know what my words mean?”
“What do they mean?”
Thwack—!
Luna slammed her fist into Kyle’s face and stormed off, huffing.
“What the...”
It was just as Kyle was clutching his face, about to retaliate against Luna.
“Kyle. I have to say this one thing.”
“What?”
“You are definitely a complete blockhead.”
Luna stroked her cheek as she recalled the distant past.
'I made a vow back then. That I’d make that bastard like me first.'
Luna wore a grumpy expression.
Of course, that plan failed when she was the first to confess her heart in the Hero Record. But still, her desire to color Kyle’s gray heart with various colors remained the same.
'Is this perhaps my lingering attachment?'
The thought crossed her mind, but as she watched Kyle walking while talking with Eiran and Chen Xia, Luna soon shook her head.
'No, it’s not that.'
She had boasted about becoming Kyle’s future.
She had prattled on about taking him along on her dream, yet in the end, it was she who had entrusted her future and her dreams to him.
The moment she entrusted everything to Kyle, this emotion did not remain as a lingering attachment.
'Still... I miss it.'
Luna smiled as she watched Kyle talking with the descendants of his disciples.
She saw his disciples in that image.
'I miss Velkia.'
Luna’s ears, which had been smiling faintly, twitched.
'Velkia?'
The disciple she had left behind always remained in her heart.
“Ah.”
Luna’s eyes flew open.
“Ah!”
Leo turned around at Luna’s scream.
“What is it?”
Luna shouted as she looked at Kyle, who was asking with a puzzled face.
“I’ve got it! It’s Velkia!”
***
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