A dream of the past, huh? How many years has it been since then? How old am I turning this year? Was it ninety? What a state I’ve fallen into. My skin’s nothing like it used to be.
An old man of small build woke up in his bed and smiled cheerfully as he stared at the wrinkled back of his hand. He was lucky to still be alive. While struggling through the era of darkness, he’d stood on the brink of death more than a handful of times. It was highly fortunate that he’d lived long enough for his short hair to turn completely white, his body to grow shorter, and his skin to be full of wrinkles.
I don’t think I’ll last another decade. He didn’t have that many years left, but for a man who always lived thinking his own life was as good as gone, he didn’t really care that it was coming to an end now, so his smile remained unfaltering.
“Good morning, Ferd.”
“Morning, Elrica.”
The old man Ferd smiled at Elrica, the old woman lying next to him and his lifelong partner. Elrica was also around ninety years old; she’d grown shorter over time, her long hair had turned pure white, and her face, once praised as possessing the most immaculate beauty in the world, was now covered in wrinkles. The two of them had been together for close to eighty years, and they’d grown old before they’d even noticed.
“I’ll go check on the field first.”
“Okay. I’ll prepare our breakfast.”
“Thank you.”
Ferd slowly got out of bed, stretched his back, then got changed and headed to the field, leaving the breakfast preparations up to Elrica.
“Weather’s pretty nice again today,” Ferd muttered as he looked up at the blue sky, a hoe in hand. Day after day, on both sunny and rainy days, he had the same flood of emotions.
Eighty years ago, the sky had been red. This was no figure of speech—light brown clouds had drifted across a deep-red sky, and the world was covered in darkness. A being born from the darkness who called himself the Great Demon King had changed the natural order of the world itself. The demonic underlings he’d created ran rampant, leaving behind only death, despair, and grief. But all that was good had risen up against him. Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, fairies, mermen, beastfolk, and various other noble creatures fought against the Great Demon King and emerged victorious. The blue sky had returned, and so did peace.
“Hmm...” Ferd, who’d devoted most of his life to the land and his field, put down his hoe and looked over his recently harvested field.
I wonder what state my hometown is in. Is it still deserted? Or has it been redeveloped? After thinking about his remaining lifespan when he’d woken up, Ferd suddenly remembered the faraway village he’d grown up in. He was born the third son to a family of poor villagers, and his living conditions growing up were far from comfortable. Since he was just the spare for the spare of the eldest son, he was treated poorly, and he’d practically had no belongings of his own; his family simply could not afford it. But even that life was still fine with him. It was certainly better than when his village was later swallowed up by the forces of darkness while he was yet a boy, and his family and everyone around him was killed.
My son...is probably fine. Next, Ferd thought about the son he’d had with Elrica. His son had once said that he’d go search for new excitements and began touring the continents. He seemed to be doing well in the neighboring continent, and the letters he occasionally sent didn’t indicate anything unusual.
Nothing seems to have changed with my grandchild either, but...I still haven’t met my great-grandchild. Ferd regretted not knowing what his great-grandchild looked like. The child was still too young to endure intercontinental travel by boat, and Ferd himself was in no position to act rashly either, so if things continued like this, he might pass away before seeing their face.
It’s my great-grandfatherly duty to sneak snacks and pocket money to my great-grandkid, then get chewed out for doing it without their parents’ permission. It’s not right that I haven’t gotten around to that yet. A very grandfatherly line of reasoning ran through his mind while he thought of his son, grandchild, and great-grandchild.
“Phew...” Ferd let out an unconscious sigh as he thrust his hoe into the ground, but there was no emotion or strength behind his motion; he simply swung downward.
I’d love to see everyone again. Finally, the faces of the companions who’d stuck with him through thick and thin appeared in Ferd’s mind. For him, whose youth had been torn apart in the chaotic era, the only bright memories he had of his past were the days he’d spent with his friends, Elrica among them.
“Hmm.” He put strength behind it as he swung his hoe down again, but his mind was still not focused on his field.
“Breakfast is ready,” Elrica called.
“All right, I’m coming back. Say, dearest.”
“What is it, honey?”
Once Ferd returned home for breakfast, he looked Elrica straight in the eye before continuing, “I don’t think it would matter much if we were to leave this place.”
“Right. It’s already been over seventy years, so most of those who were around at the time have likely passed away, excluding those of the long-lived races.”
“Indeed.”
Elrica could guess what Ferd was planning thanks to their long relationship, but she didn’t press him to share his thoughts and instead simply stated the facts.
“Then...how about we go see the others?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s a wonderful idea.” Elrica smiled at Ferd’s sudden suggestion. Perhaps she had been wishing for that too.
“All right. In that case, we should send letters to our acquaintances. I’d feel terribly guilty if anyone took the trouble of coming to visit us while we were away.”
“It’s been a while since the last time, but should I bring out a familiar?”
“Good idea.”
With the matter settled, Ferd wrote letters to their few acquaintances to let them know that he and Elrica would be going on a trip, then had them delivered via bird-type familiar. As they lived in a secluded mountain area, the pair didn’t have any neighbors they needed to inform of their departure.
“We’ll need to take our old equipment out too.”
“This brings back memories.”
Their wrinkled hands moved restlessly late into the night as their busy days continued.
“Come to think of it, we’ve spent a long time in this house.”
“We’ve made some changes to it along the way, but we’ve still been here for close to seventy years.”
A few weeks later, Ferd and Elrica finished their preparations. They stood outside the small house they’d spent all those long years in and looked at it with nostalgia. It was by no means luxurious, but in return, it was a house filled with memories, and they were attached to it.
“Those clothes of yours really take me back.”
“I could say the same to you, Ferd.”
“Hoh hoh hoh!”
“Heh heh heh.”
Ferd carried a shield and a sword in a completely unadorned scabbard, while Elrica wore a pure white robe and held a white wooden staff. The two of them smiled as they looked at each other.