It was a quiet, still room. The moon hung outside the window, casting its blue light inside. He was alone, sitting up in bed, gazing at it.
The moon here was a completely different size and color from the one on Earth. But I painfully empathized with how he felt as he looked at it. I had done the same thing countless times myself. I wondered how many times I had wished for that moon to be yellow.
I had returned to the continent for the first time in several years. I was having a drink when I overheard a certain rumor. According to “prophesy,” the 69th hero had “awakened.” The patrons in the bar were all raising a fuss about the hero without knowing any of the facts. I drained my glass so that I could get out of there.
I honed my senses to focus in on the summoned hero and came across a very nostalgic presence. Apparently, the victim was from the same country as me. “Wonder what kind of person got summoned this time,” I muttered, the noises from the lively city drowning out my voice. “Maybe…”
I strengthened my resolve and used magic to leave the city.
I had entered the room by using magic, not a door, so my compatriot did not notice my presence. I decided to observe him for a while until he did. I couldn’t see his face from where I stood, but I was able to see his body. I frowned.
No matter what actually transpired behind closed doors, in general, heroes were given nice living arrangements, fine clothes to wear, and good food to eat…
But it was apparent this person had not been given the same. Those summoned here as heroes were supposed to have a healthy constitution, both physically and mentally, yet he…
He was gaunt and hardly had any muscle to speak of. He looked so sickly, it was as if he could pass away at any moment. I felt pity as I watched this man on the brink of death, and at the same time, my heart ached as it reminded me of watching my young daughter suffer from a bad case of the flu.
I could tell they had determined he was too sick to be useful and decided to keep him here until he died. I clenched my fists at the thought.
Then I heaved an inward sigh.
I didn’t come here to see my compatriot out of pure curiosity. The clan I was protecting on the other continent was gone now, and along with them, my reason for living. That’s what I thought anyway.
I had been swallowed up by the fate of destruction when I first encountered them, as ephemeral as morning dew, and I knew I had to protect them. But in the end, I was powerless against their natural life span. I watched over them, and in a sense, felt satisfied that I had done enough. Of course, there were things I hadn’t been able to do, but if I let that affect me, I would never find a place to quit.
That was the decision I had made, absently thinking I should let myself rest in peace…and that’s when I heard those rumors.
If I was going to put myself to rest…
I began thinking maybe I should free this guy who had been summoned here, just like the old man had freed me. But if I didn’t like him, I’d just ditch him.
After I finished observing him, I called out to the very unlikely hero. “Hey, you. Aren’t you a hero?”
The man shifted his gaze toward me without a hint of bewilderment. Wouldn’t any ordinary person be surprised when someone showed up in their room and spoke to them out of the blue?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I looked into his eyes and realized why he hadn’t been surprised to see me. I inwardly clicked my tongue.
He was alive, but he was heading toward death. He had the eyes of someone who had given up on everything and accepted his fate.
I repeated my question and listened to his response. I was surprised to hear that he was not the 69th hero, but the 68th. Summoning wasn’t something that could be done lightly. Direct descendants of the founder of Gardir who possessed strong mana could only do it twice in their lifetime. The fact that they had used up one of those opportunities in just one year meant they were in dire straits indeed…not that I cared about what happened to this kingdom.
But why hadn’t I noticed he had been summoned a year ago? I should have been able to sense the presence of someone from my own country, even from the other continent. I was confused as to why this had happened. I thought about it and arrived at one conclusion: I had been too absorbed in protecting the clan at that time.
At that point, I felt it was too much trouble to ask him a bunch of questions, so instead I read his memories in order to learn more about him—about this man named Setsuna.
He was an earnest guy. Almost too earnest. But at the same time, I learned just how much suffering he had gone through in his life. He’d been treated so cruelly that I wanted to end the life of every single person in this castle.
Once Setsuna learned I was also from Japan, he seemed to start feeling things again—the proof of that was when he gave me a dismayed look once he found out I had read his memories. Still, I knew the people here would probably kill him. And when I told him that, he didn’t even bat an eye.
I knew the people of this kingdom were so evil that they had driven this kind young man to this point. Violent anger surged within me, but I forced it down. Going off the rails here wouldn’t change his future. I let out another inward sigh and asked him a similar question to the one the old man had asked me.
“If your illness was cured, what would you want to do?”
I asked him about his future, yet he responded with “Die like the camellias.”
He couldn’t bear dying alone. Setsuna told me he wanted to expire with grace, like the flowers.
Camellias had made a very strong impact on him. That promise was his last remaining reason for living.
I chuckled wryly and told him that wasn’t what he really wanted to do.
He then very quietly told me that he wished to travel around the world. He said some other things after that, but I decided not to listen. He was a bit angry with what I said, but I soothed him and told him about myself, the old man, heroes, and this world.
As I explained all these things, tears quietly streamed down the young man’s face. And when I realized why he was crying, my heart began to ache as well.
He had experienced true loneliness. He hadn’t been able to rely on a single person here. He had struggled and suffered, and no one had reached out a hand to him. And he had no one to talk to.
Once I learned that, I knew I couldn’t just abandon him. I’d only just met this young man from my own country—a man wildly younger than me, that is—a few hours ago. Yet it felt like I had been friends with him for years. Or perhaps he felt more like a younger brother. Maybe I felt close to him because I had read his memories?
I wasn’t sure if it had something to do with Setsuna’s personality or if it was because I simply liked him. But for what it was worth, he thought of me as a friend. Was I his first?
If I was, then that would make it harder to convince him…
He didn’t seem like a man who would bend his will for anyone. But I had to, no matter what it took. I needed to push past Setsuna’s stubbornness and convince him. Because I wanted him to live.
Once he began to change his mind, I started making my preparations before his resolve wavered. I stood up, and the chair returned to the bag automatically. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even see it happening.
It was both his greatest strength and greatest weakness that he struggled so hard to change his mind once it was made up. This time, it was a weakness, and thanks to that, I had plenty of time to prepare.
My mana and abilities were so strong that I usually didn’t even have to utter incantations anymore, but this time I wanted to do it properly, with the strongest magic I had.
I added several little quirks to the spell, but I don’t think he noticed. Hey, could you really blame me? The last friend I made was so sheltered that I wanted to help him out. I needed to make sure he wasn’t too sad about my death, too, because knowing him, he’d just sit here stunned for way too long.
Geez, I’ll be so worried about him I won’t be able to rest in peace. What a pain.
I couldn’t believe I’d grown so attached to something in the very last moments of my life. I wished I could have been able to accompany him on his journey.
I gave an inward, wry chuckle. I couldn’t help but grin when I thought about Setsuna living his life with a smile on his face. If he found happiness, then my life wouldn’t have been in vain…including this past year.
I surrendered myself to that feeling of satisfaction and fell asleep next to him.