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Author’s Note(AN) :

Please note that I will be posting continuously, similar to the day before.

Everyone, thank you very much for the 6th place in the daily rankings! I am so happy and touched!

TN: I said nothing.

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“Hey Ferad. How long has it been since we rode together? It’s been so long I can’t remember it.”

"I can't remember at all."

"I remember being impressed when I first got on it, but..."

"It's fun to see the horses up close after all."

"Dahahaha! Before that we were so spooked questioning what on earth is that four-legged thing!"

"Hohhoh. Certainly. When I learned about the maintenance costs and time and effort, I thought that only nobles would be able to afford one."

Sazaki, gazing into the distance, nods in nostalgic agreement with Ferad.

Both Ferad and Sazaki were born in a rural village and had no connection to horses, something considered as luxurious creatures. So, when they encountered one for the first time, they were taken aback, both by the sight of the animal and the exorbitant cost of purchasing and maintaining a horse.

"That time Elrika's..."

"Please stop there, grandpa."

"Hohoho."

Triggered by nostalgic memories, Ferad was about to talk about the time Elrika first moment of encountering a horse, but she stopped her husband and blushed slightly after.

(Perhaps it was because of the taste of the first bite.)

And rightfully so. In Ferad's memories, the young Elrika had observed a horse closely and asked whether the creature was delicious. Even now, as an older woman, she probably thought her reaction back then was a bit much, which is why she stopped Ferad from mentioning it.

(Perhaps it's best not to bring up the incident where Elrika mistook sugar for salt. It's a matter of chivalry.)

Sazaki watches the playful couple, privately recalling another mishap of Elrika.

Due to circumstances, Elrika, who can only be described as a sheltered girl, once confused sugar with salt. If Sazaki hadn't noticed, that evening would have turned into a disaster.

But that's a story from the past. Now she's a respectable old lady who has properly raised her children.

(Still, it's so nostalgic.)

In the cramped carriage, it's quite the unusual experience. That that Sazaki is not drinking but reminiscing about the past.

During the dark days of the Great War, Sazaki and his comrades moved from place to place in carriages, which served as their base and home.

(That horse back then worked splendidly too.)

Sazaki, while sober, hoisted his alcohol bottle on the famous horse as remembrance towards the best horse in the world that had pulled their carriage. Even the world's greatest horses couldn't defy the passage of time, and there was no longer a horse that could be called a companion to Sazaki and his comrades now.

And it's not just horses. Seventy years after the war, apart from the long-lived races like elves, there were hardly any survivors from the generation that had been involved in the war. Sazaki and those slightly younger represent the last generation, and once they're gone, the era that marked the separation due to the Great War will become a thing of the past.

(It's peaceful now.)

Sazaki takes in the peace that surrounds him.

A young man yawning. A woman gazing at the scenery outside. An old couple, apparently going to meet their relatives, just like Ferad and Elrika.

This is what Sazaki and the rest had achieved.

In the past, the sky had been corrupted. The earth had been burned. People had perished. Any form of order had been destroyed. And darkness had descended.

In those days, only fear and despair prevailed. An ending world never to be forgotten.

[SO! WHAT! ABOUT! THAT!]

That was the case until the small, haggard, elderly man with a smile on his deeply lined face, Ferad, appeared in front of Sazaki.*1

(It was dangerous to declare that he’ll do something about the despair in that kind of era. Who would dare make such a proclamation? It sounds like the delusion of a madman.)

Although he was probably just a child at the time, Sazaki remembered vividly. The swiftly diminished territory of humanity, the sky turning crimson. Heroes, sages, great men, knights, and kings. People of such caliber were helpless in the heyday of chaos.

In that era, only one boy had declared that he would make a difference by raising a sword to the sky. Undeniably, it was the delusion of a child who didn't understand the situation.

And that boy grew into a young man.

And he indeed managed to do something about it.

The sky regained its blue color. The burning earth settled. The deathly fate of human lives was shattered. The order was restored. And darkness was torn apart.

(Damn. I got involved with a really crazy guy.)

Sazaki might call Ferad a weirdo while thinking of himself as relatively normal, but in a party filled with eccentrics and oddballs, Sazaki was, in a way, the most unique.

Without any grand cause or ambition, he accompanied his friends into the realm of darkness, and joined the final battle. To face a life-or-death situation with mere friendship, isn't that the definition of eccentric?

(Lara and the others had a clear purpose in fighting... Ah, what kind of face should I make later...)

Thinking about his comrades who fought through the Great War with a clear purpose unlike himself, Sazaki becomes overwhelmed by the embarrassment by the fact he sent a shameful letter to his wife.

Although Sazaki spends his days lying on the ground while being perpetually intoxicated, he too has a somewhat normal sense of decency.

That's why, just as Ferad and Elrika guessed, he felt embarrassed that his letter, filled with memories and the words "I love you," had been read by Lara even though he's still alive.

(Oh well, whatever will be, will be!)

Lara, Sazaki's wife, is quite the nonchalant person.

She's an elderly lady herself.

Her second name is…

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Author’s Note(AN) :

If you find this interesting, please bookmark ncode.syosetu(.)com/n0528ii, and should you rate it with a star ☆ below, the author will cry from joy!

TN:

1. The raws is like that. It should be the younger version of Ferad in the past that appeared and shouted his goal in front of Sazaki.

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