Chapter 7

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"Fayd, when was the last time we rode in a carriage together? It's been so long, I can't even remember."

"I can't recall at all either."

"I remember being moved the first time we rode, though..."

"You were so excited to see the horses up close."

"Hahaha! Before we got excited, we were both scared of these four-legged creatures, right?!"

"Ho ho. Indeed. And when we learned about the maintenance costs and the effort required, we thought only nobles could afford it."

Fayd nodded, reminiscing about the past as he looked at Sasaki, who seemed to be gazing into the distance.

Fayd and Sasaki, who were born in rural areas, had no connection with horses, which could be considered high-class animals. When they first encountered them, they were terrified by the creatures, and learning about the cost of purchasing and maintaining them was even more shocking.

"When it comes to Erika—"

"Please, Grandpa, stop it."

"Ho ho ho."

Fayd, whose memories were stirred by the nostalgic moment, was about to talk about Erika's first encounter with a horse, but she stopped him with a slight blush on her cheeks.

(Back then, she asked if the animal was delicious.)

It was no wonder. In Fayd's memory, young Erika had observed the horse closely and asked if the creature was edible. Even now, as an older woman, Erika found her past reaction embarrassing, so she begged Fayd not to bring it up.

(I'll let it go this time. It's a matter of chivalry.)

Sasaki watched the playful couple and decided to keep quiet about another of Erika's mishaps.

Erika, who had been a sheltered girl due to her circumstances, once confused sugar with salt. If Sasaki hadn't noticed, that night would have been disastrous.

But that was in the past. Now, she is a proper grandmother who has raised her children.

(Still, it's nostalgic.)

In the cramped carriage, with other passengers present, it was unusual for Sasaki, who rarely drank, to reminisce about the past.

During the great war against the demons, Sasaki and his companions traveled by carriage to various battlefields, and the carriage was their base and home.

(That horse worked hard for us.)

Sasaki, though not drinking, raised a bottle to the world-renowned horse that had pulled their carriage. Even the world's best horse couldn't escape the passage of time, and the horse that was their comrade in arms was no longer in this world.

No, it wasn't just the horse. After seventy years of peace, many people had passed away, and the generation that experienced the war was almost gone, except for the long-lived races like elves. Sasaki and his contemporaries, along with those born a little later, were the last generation. When they died, the great war that shaped the world would become a thing of the past.

(It's peaceful.)

Sasaki's senses perceived the peace around him.

A young man yawning, a woman gazing at the scenery outside, and an elderly couple, like Fayd and Erika, who seemed to be visiting family.

This was what Sasaki and his companions had fought for.

The sky had rotted and fallen. The earth had burned. People had died. The world had lost its order. And darkness had descended.

Those days of fear and despair. The world that was on the brink of ending, never to be forgotten.

'That! Is! What! I! Will! Do!'

Until Fayd, the small, wrinkled old man with a smile on his face, stood up, Sasaki had been lost in thought.

(He's a dangerous guy, even as a friend. Who would declare that they would do something about it in those times? It sounds like the ravings of a madman.)

Even as a child, Sasaki remembered it clearly. The rapidly shrinking human survival zone, the sky turning red. Heroes, sages, champions, knights, and kings—none of them could do anything during the peak of chaos.

But one young boy raised his sword to the sky and declared that he would do something about it. It was undoubtedly the delusional words of a child who didn't understand the situation.

And the boy grew into a young man.

He did exactly what he said he would.

The sky turned blue again. The burning earth calmed. The fate of death was broken. Order was restored. And darkness was torn apart.

(Well, I got involved with a strange guy.)

Sasaki, who put himself on a pedestal, called Fayd a strange guy, but among the party members, who were all eccentrics and oddballs, Sasaki was, in a sense, the most unusual.

Without any noble cause or purpose, he followed his friend out of sheer friendship, all the way to the realm of darkness, and even to the final battle. To accompany someone to a place of certain death out of mere friendship—what else could you call that but strange?

(But Lala and the others had a clear purpose for fighting... Ah, what face should I show her...?)

Thinking about his companions, who fought the war with clear purposes, Sasaki was at a loss when he remembered the embarrassing letter he had sent to his wife, whom he was going to visit.

Sasaki, who seemed carefree and was always drunk and rolling on the ground, surprisingly had a normal sense of shame.

That's why, as Fayd and Erika had imagined, he was embarrassed that his letter, which included memories and words of love, had been read while he was still alive.

(Well, it's fine. Whatever happens, happens!)

Lala, his wife, was also an elderly woman.

And her nickname was...

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