I Pulled Out Excalibur Chapter 215

Black Spire (6)

The Black Spire shows mories of the past. The eyes of the prophet gaze into the future. Leaping across a gap of a thousand years, the past and future touched each other. Beginning from the mont when rlin, who had been gazing at the lake, turned her head to look at Najin, the world was no longer an illusion.

Sothing that happened a thousand years ago. A past that truly existed, not a falsehood.

It was a contradiction created by the mystique of reminiscence and eyes that gazed into the future intertwining.

"..."

This was a mont that was both past and present to Najin, and both future and present to rlin. Najin was a person from the distant future and rlin was a person from the distant past, but the two of them stood facing each other now, their feet planted firmly in this present mont.

"You..."

rlin swallowed hard.

"Y-you're the one who drew Excalibur?"

"As you can see."

Najin pointed to Excalibur in his hand. rlin looked at Najin with trembling eyes before finally squeezing her eyes shut. With her eyes closed, she slowly let out a breath.

"You're seeing the past from the Black Spire, and I'm seeing the future through the lake. So originally we shouldn't be able to et, and shouldn't et..."

She opened her eyes again.

"But coincidence upon coincidence has layered together, and perhaps inevitably, you're standing before ."

"That's how it ended up."

"Can I ask you sothing?"

"By all ans."

"You."

rlin's lips twitched.

"From how many years in the future did you co?"

"I ca from a thousand years in the future."

A thousand years. The mont she spoke that span of ti aloud, a hollow laugh escaped from rlin's lips. rlin laughed as if she found it absurd.

"A thousand years. A thousand years, you say?"

She muttered.

"That's long. It's an unimaginable span of ti. Are you telling to wait that long?"

Even as she muttered this, rlin kept looking at the surface of the lake. No future was reflected on the lake's surface any longer. But rlin bit down hard on her lips, as if chewing over the future that had been reflected there just monts before.

A thousand years was far too long. It was a span of ti beyond imagination.

But her future self a thousand years from now had been smiling. Laughing so joyfully, so happily.

"..."

rlin was.

"You know."

She who had glimpsed a thousand years into the future beca curious about that future.

"Najin, was it?"

rlin looked at Najin.

"The future I saw through the lake was too abbreviated, so I don't really understand it. What is this? Why was I laughing like that? What was so enjoyable? I just can't figure it out."

Since she didn't know, she said.

"Tell ."

Her eyes were shining, just a little. Whether that was starlight created by Excalibur, or whether her eyes were simply shining on their own, she couldn't tell.

"Tell your story."

Either way, rlin's eyes were shining.

Countless heroic tales speak of this. No matter where you stand, if you look up at that vast night sky, you will see constellations. And those constellations are the traces of heroes who once raced across this land, their very lives.

"Half of that story was right and half was wrong."

"...Which part was wrong?"

"The part where you said 'no matter where you stand, if you look up at the sky, you will see constellations.' Where I lived, I couldn't see the stars."

"There's such a place?"

"The underground city of Artman, that's what the place was called."

Najin told his story.

"The people from the upper levels used to call it this. The landfill. A place where discarded trash gets buried."

The starting point of the story, the prologue.

"Even when you looked up at the sky, all you could see was a black ceiling. Nothing but rough stones. Looking at the ore embedded in those rocks, I thought of them as stars."

"It must have been a boring life."

"Right? Well, actually I didn't have ti to feel bored. I was too busy trying to survive. But as I lived, I gained so breathing room, and when I had that breathing room, I started to dream."

"What was your dream?"

"To see the stars."

"The stars?"

"What those stars ntioned in The Chronicles of Arthur were really like, I wanted to see them at least once. That was my dream."

Najin told his story from the very beginning.

"Arthur was just a fortunate hero who was born in the right era. If he had been born in this age, he would have been nothing. Annoying? Want to argue back? Then co and strike down with divine punishnt or sothing."

"..."

"Wait. Don't raise your hand. This is all foreshadowing that leads to the next part of the story."

"Huh, alright. Keep going."

"After that, with help from Offen, Ivan, and old man Hogel..."

rlin had been indifferent at first, but as the story continued, her expression began to change. When she heard about Najin drawing Excalibur and fleeing from his pursuers, rlin gripped her hands with sweat, and at Ivan's choice, rlin let out a short exclamation of admiration.

"Atanga would have been absolutely thrilled to see that."

"Right?"

"So what happened next?"

She asked for more, and Najin continued telling about the journey that would follow.

"The first eting with rlin was the worst."

"...?"

"I an, think about it. Starting from our first eting, I got strangled. It's hard to think well of soone after that, isn't it?"

"No, that was your fault..."

The first eting with rlin.

"She spent the whole day, really without stopping, chattering away beside , and this was, how should I put it. You know what I told rlin earlier? About being in an environnt where it was difficult to have illusions about her. That's what this was."

"I... I did that?"

"Yes. Actually, even now, if I go outside, she'll probably make a fuss and ask about it. What exactly did you see there? Why won't you explain it to ? She'll say that she has the right to know too."

"That's… a bit."

"A bit?"

"A bit… embarrassing."

While chattering on their way to Cambria.

"There were a lot of incidents in Cambria too. It was the first ti I'd experienced the outside world. Every ti I acted outside of common sense, rlin would scream at . Are you crazy? Act with so common sense."

"...That was your fault, wasn't it? No matter what, trying to rummage through trash cans is a bit much. People should have a minimum level of dignity."

"Dignity doesn't feed you though."

The journey through Cambria.

"There were many tis when I couldn't get my bearings. I didn't know where to go, didn't know what to do. Every ti that happened, rlin would point the way. There's a path like this. Walking it is up to you. I only point the direction, she would say."

"Really? Even after a thousand years, my guide skills haven't rusted it seems."

"Of course, it wasn't just once or twice that she forgot to explain things and caused unnecessary hardship..."

"Was that last part really necessary?"

As the story continued, rlin's expressions beca more varied. Sotis she laughed as if she found it absurd, sotis she wore a serious expression, and sotis she muttered 'I did that?' with a look of disbelief.

"And so."

The story went on.

"We moved forward. It was generally similar. When I did sothing reckless, rlin would sigh and scream, but in the end she would still show the way."

Moving forward, forward again.

"At so point we didn't need much conversation. I'd just glance at rlin and she'd look at with a sigh and an expression that said 'Again?' Then she'd start explaining with a look that said 'Well, I thought as much.'"

From a certain point on, long conversations weren't necessary between rlin and Najin. With just a few short words, an exchange of glances, and expressions, they could understand what each other was thinking.

"Leaving the underground city, departing Cambria, heading to the Outlands."

Sotis with exaggeration mixed in. Sotis comically. Sotis seriously, Najin continued his story.

"So?"

So, rlin asked.

"So, what happened next?"

Like a child reading a fairy tale. Like a child listening to a heroic story told by their parents, rlin listened to the adventure tale that Najin told her.

It was a story of no great consequence. To be honest, it was a trivial story.

From rlin's perspective, having already reached the end of her own story, standing at the terminus, the story Najin told was unremarkable. A story with small scale, where lives had to be risked over trivial matters, small and insignificant stories.

Not entirely cool, not entirely beautiful, a story that gave off a distinctly unfinished feeling.

But why was it that.

"You look happy."

rlin muttered with a faint smile.

"Yeah, you look happy."

rlin let out a long breath.

"So that's why you were laughing like that. That's why you were clinging to him while squealing with delight. When I saw the future reflected in the lake's surface, I couldn't understand it... but hearing your story, I can understand now."

Breathing out long, she tilted her head back. The sky she looked up at was dark. So dark that it seed the sun would never rise. It was a dark and cold sky.

"Your star's na."

Najin's star was not there. Najin's star would rise in the future, a thousand years from now.

"The Star of Dawn, you said?"

The Star of Dawn, the star that announces the end of night. The star that breaks through darkness and heralds a new beginning.

"A thousand years until dawn cos. That's long. Too long, it seems like it would be hard to wait."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. If you told soone who's thinking of dying right now 'a joyful future will co in a thousand years, so hang in there until then,' what do you think they'd feel?"

rlin shrugged her shoulders.

"But still."

But still, she muttered.

"The story continues. It's not ended, it's moving on to the next chapter and continuing..."

Muttering this, rlin smiled unconsciously. As if she had realized sothing. rlin touched the Star of Finality in her hand and turned her gaze.

"What you told at the Glass Star's tomb."

Blue eyes stared intently at Najin.

"That it's not a terminus but a turning point."

You're waiting not for a terminus but a turning point. Where Arthur's story ended, but not where my story ends, Najin had said.

"That you're my companion. That no matter what happens, you won't go ahead of ."

Najin looked at rlin. The rlin before his eyes was not the rlin that Najin knew well. Not the incompetent rlin whose inner thoughts he could read from just her eyes and expressions, but rlin from a thousand years ago.

Reading her inner thoughts was difficult.

'It's difficult, but.'

Why was it that just in this mont, he felt like he could understand what rlin was thinking.

"Can you promise?"

Najin knew what he should answer to that question. Words like 'I promise' or 'I swear' weren't necessary. Najin spoke briefly.

"Aren't I already doing that?"

That was the answer rlin most wanted to hear. Only then did rlin smile. Not a sneer, not a hollow laugh from finding sothing absurd, but she burst into truly pure laughter.

"I see. Yes, that was an unnecessary question. You're already doing that."

rlin let out a long breath. As if she had shaken off sothing with that breath, rlin's expression looked comfortable. She released the dimd Excalibur that she had been gripping tightly in her hand. With a splash, Excalibur sank below the lake.

Watching Excalibur settle, rlin closed her eyes. When she opened them again, rlin wore a slightly different expression.

An expression as if she had made a decision.

rlin stood up and looked at the sky. A thousand years until dawn ca. As if she had decided how to spend those thousand years.

"You're dreaming right now, aren't you?"

Walking toward sowhere unknown, rlin spoke.

"A thousand years in the future, you're dreaming of the past. But for , this is reality. Actually, dreams and reality aren't that different for ."

The fairy who lived half in dreams and the human who lived the other half in reality spoke.

"I've lived with half in dreams and half in reality. If both sides don't matter, I'd greedily choose both, that's how I've lived. I've lived like that, but..."

She walked. She walked and walked again.

"Now it's ti to choose."

She stopped in a plain. Standing straight in the vast plain located in a corner of the Outlands, rlin turned to look at Najin.

"I'm going to drop my twelfth star now."

She reached her hand toward the sky. Her fingertip pointed to the Star of Finality.

"Finality. I am a being who has already t its end. I mustn't deny that. In so way, my story needs to co to an end."

To Najin's question of why, she answered.

"Because a period must be placed before the next story can begin. To move forward to the next, there's a need to finish the previous story."

To move to the next sentence, you must place a period. Without placing a period, you cannot move forward. Only by concluding the previous story can a 'new story' begin.

"So I'm going to place a period."

The Star of Finality shone.

"Originally, you see. I was just going to end the story here with everything else. I was going to close the book."

She smiled bitterly.

"I didn't care about Arthur's request or anything, I just got sick of living. I thought there would be no aning in living any longer. So, I was just going to die."

But, rlin said.

"I'm looking forward to traveling with you. If such a future cos soday, I think it might be okay to live a little longer. Ah, of course, I'm not sure if you can call a thousand years 'a little' though."

It's honestly a bit long, isn't it? Muttering this, rlin swept her hair back.

"I need to conclude the ending. I need to abandon my star. But I don't want to end my story here. Then what should I do? The answer is surprisingly simple."

rlin's body beca hazy.

"Split myself in two."

Into the part that will live and the part that will choose death. Fortunately, I have a good criterion line for splitting, rlin said with a mischievous smile, pointing to herself.

"The who will live in dreams."

And the other half.

"The who will live in reality."

rlin's body beca hazy. She divided herself in two. The rlin who separated from her was the rlin that Najin knew well. Gently laying down the sleeping figure on the ground, rlin smiled wistfully.

"I'm envious."

"..."

"I'm jealous of the who will be with you. When she opens her eyes, she won't know anything, will she? She won't feel the anger toward Arthur, the disillusionnt with the world, or the suicidal impulses that make want to hang myself right now. I'll take all of that with ."

The bad things, the murky and dirty things, the dregs that had settled to the bottom, all swept away, leaving pure and clear water.

"How envious."

So she could enjoy a new journey more sincerely than anyone, could laugh happily, rlin smiled bitterly as she looked at herself.

"But there's one thing. Just one thing I'll take with ."

Step, rlin took one step closer to Najin.

"The conversation we shared here. The story you told . The mory of eting you, I'll take that with . It wouldn't be fun if she knew in advance, would it? And..."

Bringing her face close to Najin's, rlin smiled with childlike mischief.

"I should have at least one such mory too. That would be fair, wouldn't it?"

"That's true too."

"Yes. Thank you for telling your story. Thanks to that, I don't think I'll be bored."

One step. rlin moved away from Najin. With each step she took, the scenery began to distort. Najin knew what rlin was trying to do from now on.

A star's tomb.

rlin was creating a star's tomb. A star's tomb where she herself would be buried. To bury the star nad Finality, a star that was more like a curse.

"..."

Step, rlin walked silently. Before she could get any farther, Najin spoke up.

"rlin."

rlin turned to look at Najin. As always, long conversations weren't necessary.

"Let's et again."

A short phrase. rlin's eyes widened, she lowered her head, bit her lips hard, and finally raised her head to look at Najin.

"Yeah."

rlin smiled brightly.

"I'll be waiting in the future, a thousand years from now."