CH 700

The man awoke from his dream to find the day already bright.

He had merely endured.

He had lived for five years after that time, during which he had to bear the weight of a lifetime.

Not crumbling.

Not falling down. The man, whose life's work had been to never fall, now lived a directionless life within the last mission of never crumbling.

Not knowing where to go.

Unable to settle anywhere.

He walked an endless path, unsure whether it was flight or advance.

A wanderer in search of the unattainable, the eternal wanderer.

The role given to the Apostle of Courage and the owner of the last relic was just that.

Although everything was fading away, the flame had not yet been extinguished.

As long as it didn't go out, it could burn.

Holding in his arms the most important and dangerous item in the world.

Without revealing to anyone that he possessed it.

He walked aimlessly and sometimes rested.

The man quietly looked up at the sky.

Amidst countless hallucinations, he strained his ears to hear what was now barely audible.

As if trying to listen to the sound of the world.

How much time had passed?

"Mister!"

He saw the innocent, mischievous, and gentle girl running towards him.

How many days had he been in this nameless village?

He couldn't remember clearly.

However.

It was time to leave the village where the cute, lovable, gentle, and mischievous girl lived.

"Today, I brought sausages too."

The girl, with a bright expression, held out a sausage sandwich. The man shook his head.

"Sandy."

"…Yes?"

For the first time since he arrived in the village, the man called the girl by her name.

The dying man's gaze returned, and the revitalized man stood up from his seat.

The man, who had always crouched down, had always been at the same eye level as the girl.

But now, the difference in height between the standing man and the girl was significant.

As the girl straightened her bent back, she looked up at him, mouth agape, surprised by his height.

To Sandy, the man seemed to have become an entirely different person.

The man looked down at the girl and spoke.

"Tell the villagers."

"Tell them...what?"

She wondered what he meant.

"Tell them not to come outside until the sun sets, no matter what happens."

The man was strange.

Sandy knew he was strange.

But, really.

She had no idea just how strange he was.

The man began to walk somewhere silently.

From somewhere, the sound of horse hooves reached the man's distant ears.

------

Sandy did not know what the man's intentions were when he said those words.

But, for some reason, he seemed serious.

Just as she had shouted in all directions when she had to save the fallen man, Sandy shouted the same way this time.

Sandy didn't simply tell them, "The wandering man says not to come outside."

That would have been just a strange statement, and no one would believe it.

So, Sandy devised a plan.

She said a monster had appeared near the village.

And that they shouldn't go outside.

She screamed loudly.

Fortunately, even the notorious little mischief-maker Sandy had never joked about monsters before.

At the mention of a monster, the villagers closed their doors in fear.

Some people asked Sandy what kind of monster had appeared. Sandy didn't know exactly but said it was a terrifying and vicious-looking monster, and they should stay quiet until it passed.

However, Sandy's mother and father thought Sandy was playing another cruel prank.

At the moment when they were determined to give Sandy a good beating this time:

-Thump thump thump thump thump!

From afar, an indiscernible thunderous sound began to reach them.

They didn't know if it was a monster or not.

But knowing that something terrible had happened, Sandy's parents took Sandy and hid inside their house.

The villagers didn't know precisely what was happening.

However, the thunderous noise grew louder and closer to the village.

As it grew closer and closer,

From the moment something seemed to have arrived at the village:

-Whinnying!

A dying horse's sound.

-Arggh!

"What, what is that thing...?!"

The sound of people dying.

Soaked everyone's ears in fear.

------

Around the time the screams had subsided, naturally, it was Sandy who burst out of the house first, pushing past her restraining parents.

Night had already fallen.

Sandy, who had rushed frantically to the place where the screams and sounds of death had been heard, saw it from the edge of the village, already shrouded in darkness.

Dead horses.

Dead people.

And scattered military flags.

In between them, a one-armed man stood, bathed in pale moonlight.

The golden spear in his left hand.

The man, who looked too weak to break even a single tree branch, had killed dozens of mounted soldiers.

"Mister...?"

Even with a strong heart and a high tolerance for unusual things, Sandy couldn't help but collapse upon seeing the scene.

At Sandy's call, the golden spear in the man's left hand disappeared like a mirage, as if it had never been there.

The man slowly approached Sandy, who was trembling as she sat down.

"Ah, ah..."

Then, the man crouched down carefully to meet Sandy's eye level.

With their eyes locked, the man said, "They were bandits."

"..."

"I saw the village further west from here being plundered by them. Then they brutally killed everyone in the village. Children, the elderly, everyone."

"..."

"I didn't intend to care about it. A bandit's business... It's not my concern."

One cannot concern oneself with all the matters of the world.

But the man stayed in this village.

Even when people gave him hints.

And sometimes threats.

Without a word.

He sat in the corner of the barn, waiting for something.

It wasn't because the man was unable to see the existence of the bandits with his eyes open.

"Sandy."

"In goodness... there is no given reward."

"Living kindly or living virtuously."

"Doesn't bring happiness, nor is a reward given."

"That's why there are more cases of suffering."

The man placed his hand on Sandy's head.

As Sandy had done occasionally when she felt sorry and pitiful for the man.

The hand that seemed like it belonged to a dead person was now so big and warm.

Sandy stared blankly at the man.

"But sometimes there is a reward for being good."

"For being kind."

"Sometimes there should be a reward just for that reason."

"Though it's not always given."

"If you live that way, sometimes there should be good things."

"So people can, at least a little, affirm goodness."

"On the road, there lay a dying, filthy beggar. A young girl couldn't bear to watch, and she helped the man."

"Apparently, that beggar repelled all the thieves who were planning to attack the village..."

"Well, there's no harm in such an unbelievable story."

A person who could be ignored.

Someone who could be left to die without concern.

A girl who couldn't bear to see such a person and went around the neighborhood shouting loudly.

And that strange girl took care of the beggar wholeheartedly.

She provided him with meals.

Washed him.

Shaved his beard.

And became a companion to him.

It was a repayment for the girl's kindness.

The man had no interest in thieves.

However, he had no choice but to repay the kindness the girl had shown him with what he was capable of.

Knowing that the thieves would come to this place, he did not succumb to the villagers' hints and quietly guarded the stable.

In the end, the villagers were also kind.

Though they gave hints, they did not chase him away with a club.

The heart of everyone in the village, that they could not help but feel.

And Sandy's mischievous yet gentle kindness.

In order to repay her, the beggar stayed in the stable for a long time, without any hint of leaving.

"Sandy..."

"I'm sorry."

"For making you witness such a horrible scene..."

"That's why I told you not to come out..."

But there was nothing that could be done about the girl witnessing the scene.

The man carefully reached out his hand to Sandy's cheek.

"Thank you."

"You don't have to be this kind in the future."

"But your kindness... It made me feel joy for the first time in a long while..."

"I hope you understand."

After caressing her cheek a few times, the man slowly stood up.

Sandy still did not know what had happened.

She didn't know who the man was.

However.

Because Sandy had saved someone.

Through some people’s death.

The village was saved.

The girl spoke to the back of the wanderer, who was about to leave without a word.

"Mister."

At the girl's call, the man stopped.

"Where... are you going?"

Without turning to the girl's vague question, the man replied.

Somewhere, he was searching for something.

Unable to know where that place was, he wandered aimlessly.

"A place of eternal rest."

And so, while walking.

To the most important, yet saddest beings in the world.

The wanderer of eternity set off to find the land that could provide eternal rest.

------

The eternal wanderer walks aimlessly, searching for the land of rest.

Without even knowing where it is or if it even exists.

In front of the man who started walking out of the village edge without any plan.

Under the moonlight, there were two shadows.

One was standing, and the other was sitting on the edge of a rock.

The man stopped quietly in front of those shadows.

"It's been a long time, Ludwig."

A blurry face seen through the dim sight.

A distant voice.

Ludwig remembered that face and voice.

Her red hair, even visible in the moonlight.

"Scarlett?"

His dear friend was waiting for him under the moonlight.

And behind her.

A being whose identity could be recognized solely by the pair of horns.

"It's been a while."

The ruler of the continent.

The Demon King.

"Reinhardt..."

The being with a name that could be heard everywhere sat on the rock's edge, looking at Ludwig.

"What brings you here?"

Almost instinctively, a golden spear appeared in Ludwig's left hand.

"...Is that Alixion?"

"..."

"Relax your face. Do you think I came here to fight?"

The emperor raised both of his arms to show he had no intention of being hostile.

How did he find me?

Although Ludwig was curious, in reality, it might not have mattered.

His opponent was the ruler of the continent.

Eventually, whatever he sought would be found.

If he spread the chain of coincidences wide enough and waited for someone to get caught in it, he would eventually find what he wanted.

In the end, Ludwig was simply caught in that chain.

"It was you after all, wasn't it?"

The demon king spoke quietly.

More precisely, he was staring intently at the necklace hidden beneath Ludwig's clothes.

"..."

Ludwig didn't respond.

But the opponent's gaze seemed to know everything without even hearing an answer.

"Having saved my life, why did you disappear, even if you couldn't show any respect?"

"Because I didn't save you because I thought you were right."

At Ludwig's words, Reinhardt sighed.

"Right, you saved my life, so if I waste it, you'll come back to take it."

Suggesting that since he was alive thanks to Ludwig, Ludwig had the right to take his life.

Reinhardt added such words.

"But can you endure that?"

At Reinhardt's words, Ludwig stared at the emperor with a hardened expression.

It had never occurred to him that he could endure it.

Every moment was like hell, but he hadn't collapsed.

"It seems I should be the one to take it."

"..."

"You have no reason to hold on to it."

"..."

"No matter how I think about it, it's right for me to have it."

Someone had to bear the burden of the Soul Stone, which would turn into a disaster if left alone.

Ludwig was constantly fighting against it in real time.

It was the heaviest burden in the world.

Ludwig was bearing the sins of others.

So, it was reasonable for the emperor to argue that he should bear it rather than Ludwig.

"I can't let you, whose life is so valuable, have something like this."

It wasn't because the emperor was right that Ludwig had saved him.

But he couldn't let the emperor bear such a burden either.

As if knowing that Ludwig would give such an answer.

"So, are you going to live like this for the rest of your life, wandering around the world like a nomad and dying?"

"It's none of your business."

"How about at least giving up this lifestyle? It's not difficult to make your life more comfortable, and if you won't concede that, I wish you'd recognize your own importance."

There was no need to wander around.

Not too long ago, he had almost died collapsed on the road.

At the emperor's suggestion to live more comfortably, Ludwig shook his head.

"I have to search."

"..."

"They are not monsters... They are just sad beings who had no choice but to become monsters."

"..."

"So, I have a duty to find a way to give them rest. And that task is mine to undertake."

They were not beings to be exorcised or burdens to be borne by someone else.

They were simply pitiful figures who couldn't find rest.

He had to find a way to give them rest.

That's why Ludwig searched for a place he didn't even know existed.

Scarlett sadly looked at Ludwig, tormented by his obsession.

The emperor stared intently at Ludwig.

"You're still as stubborn as ever."

The emperor had anticipated Ludwig's rejection of all his suggestions.

"Let me make another proposal."

"I have no intention of accepting anything."

"Have you ever thought about finding the 'End of the World'?"

"What?"

The End of the World.

Ludwig's eyes widened at the unexpected suggestion. He had no intention of accepting anything, but this was a proposal he never could have imagined.

"I'm currently trying to find out the extent of this world."

"We don't know if this continent is the only one, or if there are others."

"That's why I've been preparing an expedition for a long time to find out."

"We're about to set sail."

"Who knows?"

"Maybe you'll find what you're looking for there."

"Divinity, magic, and supernatural powers."

"Beyond those, there may be another power that could make the impossible possible."

A land of rest.

Would such a place truly exist?

Could there be another world beyond this continent?

Having become the ruler of the continent, the Demon King sought to discover if there was another world beyond the known existence.

The margins of the story.

Just as there had always been margins, something might exist in the margins beyond the ocean of this continent.

He wanted to find it.

Ludwig stared at the Demon King.

As if not expecting an answer, the Demon King took something out of his pocket.

It was a magic scroll.

"Use this if you decide to go."

Ludwig couldn't fully understand that the scroll was for teleportation to a specific location.

The Demon King looked at Ludwig silently.

"We don't have the kind of relationship where we enjoy seeing each other's faces. Go."

Indeed, they weren't close enough to engage in a lengthy conversation.

"And if it's really too hard for you to bear, leave it to me. I'm not asking for it forever, just a few months. If you die, it'll be a loss for me, you know?"

"I'll think about it."

There had been a purpose.

Ludwig received three suggestions, two of which he refused.

"Lastly..."

The Demon King looked at Ludwig with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry. For everything."

Ludwig didn't know why the Demon King was apologizing.

Shouldn't he be the one to say thank you?

Why was he saying sorry?

But the Demon King didn't say anything else.

Scarlet, with a sad expression, lowered her head as she looked at Ludwig.

Flash!

With the flash of the teleport, they disappeared as if they had never been there.

Ludwig stared blankly at the scroll in his hand.

The End of the World.

The Demon King was not content and sought to do something.

Beyond that, there might be nothing, or there might be something.

However, beyond the world known so far.

There would be other possibilities.

What couldn't be found on this continent might be found beyond the world.

It would be better than wandering aimlessly.

Ludwig didn't take long to decide.

Flash!

He unfolded the scroll, and light enveloped his body.

When the light disappeared and he opened his eyes.

Ludwig found himself on a hill overlooking a massive harbor.

Ships were setting sail.

It was a fleet heading towards the End of the World, the extent of which was unknown.

It was bound to be on a scale never seen before.

Among the gigantic ships akin to otherworldly vessels, Ludwig saw mermaids swimming in the sea.

And then, he saw it.

A familiar face.

A face he didn't think he'd see again.

"You've come, Ludwig."

The disappeared shaman.

"Detto...morian?"

Dettomorian was there.

The shaman, whose knowledge and intentions were always inscrutable.

It only made sense that a being wielding power beyond the understanding of the world would pave the way, venturing into an unknown place, searching for something unknown, in a direction where an unknown power awaited.

"To the other side of the world."

Dettomorian would go with Ludwig beyond the boundaries of the unknown.

"Let's go together."

Overwhelmed by the vast ocean and the abyss beyond, Ludwig gazed at the massive fleet that would head towards the direction of dawn and dusk.