The year I turned thirteen, the Hero came to find me in the Mage Tower. She was a stunning beauty with snow-white hair and golden eyes.
"I heard you're the genius magician of the century, but you're just a cute little kid?"
I remember that I had been silently organizing books at the time.
"Hey...?"
"..."
"Hey, you there...?"
It wasn't that I was deliberately ignoring her—I just had a lot on my mind.
"I'm neither a genius nor a little kid. I have a name—it's Rin."
Feeling a little sorry for her, I answered while placing a book on the shelf. Her face brightened up instantly, and she started following me around like a puppy.
"Lies! I heard you became a 4-star magician at thirteen! There's no precedent for that in the empire's history!"
"..."
"And you're so tiny, so you are a little kid! What, do you want me to treat you like an adult? But you're still at an age where someone should be changing your diapers! If you join our party, I'll do it for you every day!"
She giggled, covering her mouth.
So, I opened my palm and performed a magical calculation.
"Fireball."
"Ahhh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It was just a joke!"
She was a ridiculous woman. The fact that someone like her was a Hero... What a world-ending joke.
No, it really was the end of the world.
I remember smirking.
It was just a small smile, but strangely, she smiled at me far more brightly than I had.
"You're finally smiling...?"
At that moment, I became interested.
I had never found people interesting before, but she was such an odd human being.
"I'm Lista Alter Shirphen, a FakeWarrior of the Radiant Dragon Church."
She said that the world had entered summer, and the Abyss was spreading from the South Pole.
She needed my help.
It was what people called a Hero's party.
There were two other famous figures.
One was Kies, a member of the Imperial Sacred Human Empire's Huanghasamuseong, also known as the Bow Star.
The other was Friede, a shrine maiden of the Dragonkin Republic's Fire Dragon.
"I don't want to die."
"Nobody wants to die."
"Are the other two as fun as you?"
At that, Lista put a finger to her cheek and hummed in thought before answering with something strange.
"Those two are just as crazy as I am… but there's something even more fun."
"What is it?"
I showed interest, and Lista smiled like a girl sharing a secret from puberty.
"The world."
The world.
To someone like me, who had lived in the Mage Tower ever since being picked up from the slums, that word carried a strange resonance.
That was how I joined the party.
Kies was a mute archer whose accuracy plummeted unless he drank alcohol, and Friede, despite being a shrine maiden, was a heavy smoker who puffed on cigarettes whenever she had a moment.
"You're the Fire Dragon's shrine maiden. You should at least be able to breathe fire."
She would then blow black smoke in my face and laugh hysterically. A crazy woman.
But their skills were undeniable, and so we fought.
For five years.
During our journey, Lista would always tease me.
"Rin, you must never fall for me, okay?"
"Rin, when this is all over, why don't we travel together?"
"Rin, you're too innocent. I'm worried you'll get deceived by some other woman someday."
And then, five years later...
Now, on the eve of our final battle, I was dying, my body consumed by soul-corroding poison.
My remaining lifespan... wasn't much.
"Rin, stay with me! Please... Friede, what are you doing?!"
"Lista, the poison is too strong."
Friede was crying.
"Even I can't cure this... This is... he might die..."
"He won't die! He's not going to die!"
"I... I don't want to die..."
"I know! I won't let you die. Just hold on a little longer."
Coughing up blood, I lifted my shirt, revealing my chest.
[Primary Filtration Microcalculation Pouch Reversal]
There, over my heart, was the foundation of the immortality spell I had spent four years developing.
"No way... so that's why you were making that spell..."
It was a spell that would completely freeze my body, forcing me into a suspended state, while healing amplification and sacred incantations worked to restore me.
If my calculations were correct.
Of course, I had no idea how long it would take. Maybe I'd be asleep forever.
But I had no choice.
"I'll come back... so make sure you win."
Only moments remained.
I activated the spell, and ice crept up from my toes, covering my body.
Lista, her face streaked with tears, gripped my hand tightly.
"You promised, Rin. We'll meet again, right? You promised to come back, right?"
Lista was beautiful when she smiled.
But now, I thought she was even more beautiful when she cried.
"When you wake up, we'll go see the world together. The four of us. Okay? I'll be right here, waiting for you."
The ice, the chill of death, climbed up my legs, my waist, my chest, my back, my neck...
I gave a weak smile.
Just like that first time in the Mage Tower.
"Yeah. I promise."
And then, my consciousness sank into the freezing void.
A tepid weightlessness, as if I were sinking into a lukewarm swamp...
I felt a strange lingering regret toward death.
Maybe I wanted to witness the ultimate truth of the empire's grand seven-star magic system.
Maybe I wanted to travel the vast world with my companions.
Darkness.
Darkness.
Darkness.
Darkness.
Just as I had grown accustomed to struggling in the abyss, suddenly, my eyelids were lifted.
Warm sunlight.
A fresh spring breeze.
The gentle touch of life surrounding me.
"Rein, are you okay?"
Blinking blankly, I saw a woman gripping my shoulders.
Mother?
Someone was calling me Mother's child.
But I was an orphan.
A golden square shimmered brilliantly before my eyes.
The scorching heat of the south and the wailing of the Abyss were nowhere to be heard.
Where... was I?
Deep in my mind, the memories of eighteen-year-old Rin and nine-year-old Rein swirled chaotically.
"This place is..."
"This is the Hero's Square of the Holy Papacy. That statue was built to commemorate Lista's party. Do you not like it?"
I gazed silently at the weathered statue.
I knew those faces.
Hero, Lista.
Archer, Kies.
Shrine Maiden, Friede.
And me... Rin.
A deep pain, defined as grief, swelled within me.
The inscription on the pedestal told the tale of time's unyielding march.
[Lista: 1082 – 1116]
[Kies: 1076 – 1154]
[Friede: 1079 – 1168]
[Rin: 1090 – 1107]
They were all dead?
A 300-year gap.
Everything was gone.
I stood there, staring at the names, my hands trembling.
And for the first time in 300 years, tears quietly spilled down my cheeks.