WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 147: A Flame Born from Ashes (2)

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At the familiar tone of the first paragraph, Kyle raised his eyes and looked at Elysia. She blinked in surprise, seemingly feeling the same way he did. It was hard to believe she had been half-asleep just moments ago.

"It really is a book the old man wrote himself. And it was written directly for the two of us..."

"......"

"Do you think something happened to him while he was alone?"

"Calm down and keep reading. We don't know what might be written inside."

Elysia's voice had gradually risen when Kyle spoke evenly. Coming back to her senses, she took a deep breath and nodded. Kyle lowered his gaze to the book again.

[After you left, I returned to the same life as before. Taking walks outside now and then, meeting people from other villages or cities, and occasionally researching magic.]

"......"

[But whenever I was alone in this quiet house, I sometimes found myself regretting things. Ah, of course, I do not regret choosing not to follow you. I simply regret that we did not make one more night's worth of memories. Do you remember the village where the three of us stayed that day? I still frequently keep in touch with the people there and with the cities in the south. Even so, there were times when loneliness cut especially deep. I never felt that way when I was alone before. Strange, isn't it?]

The handwriting was elegant, fitting for the Empire's greatest noble. Yet the words themselves were utterly plain. Kyle could almost picture Alfred smiling warmly beside him.

[That is why I decided to leave this book behind.]

Kyle's arm froze as he traced the words with his finger.

[One day, such a thought occurred to me. Though you and I live in different times, is not space itself connected as one? That means you may return here someday, in a future thousands of years from now.]

[And if you are reading this, then my prediction was correct. I cannot hear your answer, but let me ask one thing. Where are you now? Has the war with the Empire ended? What of the Emperor? Have you fulfilled your revenge? Or have you been driven into a corner, standing at the edge of a cliff and coming here with the desperate hope of clutching even at a straw?]

As Kyle read Alfred's words, a sudden wave of dizziness made him press a hand to his forehead.

"Kyle...?"

When he turned slightly, Elysia was glancing at him with worry-filled eyes. Kyle looked over her appearance, then his own, and let out a hollow laugh.

Standing at the edge of a cliff, desperate enough to clutch at a straw.

Driven into a corner.

Those words described the two of them perfectly.

Neither Kyle nor Elysia was in normal condition.

They had raced here without properly resting since Marent. The journey had been so brutal that even the fine horse Count Perian had provided collapsed from exhaustion. They had nearly abandoned it in the middle of the snowfield because they could not spare the time it would take to bring it with them.

They were cold, hungry, and exhausted.

Entering the warm house had made things slightly better, but it could not hide their pale faces. Both Kyle and Elysia looked the same. Worse still, they had no idea when this endless escape would end or what awaited them at the end. It felt like pushing through a blizzard that hid even the next step, relying only on instinct.

"No, it's nothing."

Kyle brushed it off when Elysia stared at him.

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm just a little dizzy. It's nothing serious. The fatigue must be catching up to me."

Before she could say anything else, Kyle turned back to the book. Elysia parted her lips once or twice, then swallowed a quiet sigh. After all, she was partly to blame for Kyle's worsening condition. She had collapsed along the way, and he had carried her himself.

[I do not know what circumstances you are in, but I have continued researching Dragons all this time. Do you remember Aiser, the Ice Dragon we killed together?]

Kyle turned the page as he resumed reading. The next page appeared with a soft flutter.

[Dragons still live in my era, after all. There were many twists and turns, but I did not give up. Then I realized something.]

"......"

[The Emperor is not human.]

Elysia drew in a sharp breath as she read alongside him.

[Everything from here is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. Do you remember what we discussed when we first met? Why I fell into this past, the secret the Archandia Imperial Family tried so hard to hide, and why every Emperor throughout history was obsessed with wars of conquest.]

Kyle knew.

Alfred had told him himself. Every Emperor had been gradually consumed by the First Emperor's consciousness.

[Like Prisia, the First Emperor is an existence born at the beginning of time. In a sense, he is a Transcendent.]

The once-elegant handwriting had grown urgent at some point.

[Why did the number of Dragons decline so sharply over only a few thousand years? Was it simply because humans prospered? Because the Dragons could not unite and form a nation? Yet that does not make sense. The stronger Dragons could destroy a small nation by themselves. Does that not seem strange? As though they were swept away by a current they could not resist.]

[Prisia was born from the primordial light, while the First Emperor was created from the darkness that naturally fell beside it. Unlike the Progenitor Dragon, he is something formed from gathered negative emotions. I do not know whether such a thing should truly be called a living being of this land.]

[The Empire itself was a nation born from darkness. Humanity was nothing more than a toy in the grasp of a monster that fed on human madness and greed. You need only look at how Elandor changed so drastically after Prisia, its sole restraint, disappeared. As a mere human, I could not learn what he wants or what his ultimate goal is.]

Silence lingered for some time. Neither could find words in the face of such shocking claims.

[Still, do not worry too much.]

Kyle had barely managed to turn the page when he saw those words.

[Nothing in this world is perfect. Even if he is something beyond humanity, that does not mean he is invincible.]

[Everything is bound to circulate as one. Do not doubt yourselves. Continue forward as you believe you should. Never stop. Do not look back either. If the past catches hold of your ankle, you will never rise again.]

[And the Dragon Heart.]

Kyle's black eyes darkened.

[Prisia's heart is the key to bringing down the Empire. Do not reject it. Accept it as it is.]

[I am not speaking only of mana. The fates surrounding you. The immense currents drawing near. Do not resist them. Accept them completely. Accept the future Prisia glimpsed.]

Kyle raised his head. Fruit growing from thin branches hanging down from the ceiling gave off a soft yellow light. Outside the window, the sunset was slowly vanishing as well. Just as it had when they first arrived at this house.

[When I examined your body then, you were in the process of assimilating with Prisia's mana.]

Kyle ran his now-steady fingers over the page.

[How has that gone? Have you completely merged with it by now? I said that once the Dragon Heart is fully absorbed into your body, Izra's Thorn may disappear and you may be able to use Authority. Can you, who are reading this, see the same future Prisia saw?]

Kyle shook his head inwardly, a bitter smile touching his lips.

No, old man. I still think I'm lacking by a long way.

[I wrote this at dawn, so it is becoming unnecessarily long.]

Yet Alfred's words continued without pause.

[I do not know how the story you have written will end. But there is one thing I wish to say. Be happy. Never die. You are both still so young. Is it not far too early to die already? If you have sins to atone for, you can pay for them in hell after you die. Or perhaps I can bear them in your place. If that is possible, of course.]

Kyle slowly closed his eyes.

Beyond the darkness, Alfred's aged voice echoed gently.

[That is all I wished to say. The rest is a simple summary of the research I conducted after falling into the past. I do not know whether it will help, but it is better than nothing.]

The writing ended there.

No, a small line remained at the bottom. At the end of the letter, written like a diary entry, Kyle's finger moved to the bottom of the page.

[Postscript. There was something I dearly wished to ask, but I forgot it by mistake. So, did things work out with Elysia? You have not forgotten my request, have you?]

Kyle stared at Alfred's playful postscript, then turned the page. Just as Alfred had said, the pages after the letter were densely filled with the research materials he had compiled over the years.

Research left behind by the man who had once been the Empire's greatest archmage. It was something so precious that no amount of money could buy it.

But it did not offer much help to Kyle and Elysia, whose lives were in immediate danger.

"It's over."

"Yes."

"What will we do now?"

"For now, you keep this book, Elysia. We'll stay here for tonight. The sun has already set."

Kyle shut Alfred's book with a thump. After handing it to Elysia, he arranged the bedding on the bed, which still held traces of ordinary life.

"We have a long journey ahead tomorrow too, so get some proper sleep. At least for tonight."

Elysia nodded without a word.

Before long, the sound of her quiet breathing filled the room. The fruit blooming from the branches above naturally dimmed. Kyle leaned his back against the side of the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Fate...

I don't know.

His heart was still in turmoil. Fatigue kept urging his mind to rest, but for some reason, his body would not easily fall asleep. Kyle touched the Dragon Heart inside his clothes once, then forced his eyes shut.

I don't know, old man.

I don't know whether this path I'm taking is the right one or what awaits at its end.

* * *

Early the next morning, fierce sunlight pierced his eyes.

Kyle blinked through his hazy thoughts, then pushed his stiff body upright.

Beyond the window lay a white conifer forest. Morning sunlight scattered across the snowfield, creating a beautiful, dreamlike sight. Kyle waited for his sleep-dulled mind to clear, then began preparing to leave.

Fortunately, Elysia did not look too bad after sleeping well the previous night. Perhaps being inside Alfred's familiar house had allowed her to relax.

"Are you ready? We can leave soon, right?"

Kyle turned toward Elysia. She wore brown fur over her white robe.

"No problem. I do not feel too bad either."

"Then let's go. Since we don't have horses, we'll need to walk more diligently."

The two stepped outside.

The moment they crossed the threshold, cold winter wind sharply wrapped around their whole bodies. Every breath they took and released formed clouds of white vapor before them.

Kyle shut the open door, then cast a barrier around the tree as Alfred had done. More precisely, it was an application of Illusion Magic that refracted light rather than a true barrier. Someone might discover the door beneath that massive conifer and enter.

He did not know whether they would ever return here, but he had no desire to let the memories of the three of them be disturbed by some unknown person.

With no horses left to ride, they once again headed east in silence. The snow crunching beneath their feet and the occasional blade-like gust of cold wind were no different from the day before.

"Kyle."

Elysia, diligently following a step behind him, opened her stiffened lips.

"How long are we going to keep heading east?"

"Until we cross the border."

"The border? You mean the Kingdom of Selaine?"

"Yes. It is the farthest country in the Federation. The nobles in the rear of the Kingdom of Russel must have fled that way once the front collapsed under the Celestial Knights. Even the king may have done the same. The wyvern knights led personally by Duke Mortein are powerful enough for that."

Saying aloud the thoughts that had been circling his mind made the situation feel even more hopeless.

Still, Kyle did not show it. He knew Elysia was anxious.

Another day passed.

Then two days passed.

By the third day, the cutting wind of the snowfield was as harsh as ever. Kyle and Elysia continued onward without stopping except for the bare minimum of rest and sleep. At times, Kyle carried Elysia on his back himself when her strength gave out.

How far have we come?

Have we reached the rear of the Kingdom of Russel by now?

Kyle gritted his teeth and kept repeating those questions inwardly. The weather and forced march were steadily draining his strength.

Then he felt the mana within the Dragon Heart move against his chest.

As it had in Marent, an instinctive intuition wrapped around his whole body.

A pounding heart.

A creeping sense of dread.

Do not resist them. Accept them completely. Accept the future Prisia glimpsed.

Kyle, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

Elysia, who had barely kept pace with him, panted as she looked up.

"Kyle...?"

He did not answer at once. He slowly turned to face her.

"I'm sorry."

"What do you..."

"My promise to take you to Rier. I don't think I can keep it."

Elysia's eyes widened as though they might tear apart.

A faint smile formed on Kyle's lips as he looked at her. At that moment, small snowflakes began falling beneath the gray, clouded sky.

"From here on, you go alone."

Kyle's low voice echoed heavily through the drifting snow.

"Our contract ends here, Elysia Lucent Archandia."

Footnotes:

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