Chapter 234: Arpentia (12)
“Never give your heart to a human.”
As far as I clearly remembered, that was the very first piece of advice my parents had ever given me.
When I was young, I did not doubt their sincere warning directed at me even in the slightest.
Rather, because I had been especially clever from an early age, the more I mulled over their words, the more I found myself nodding in agreement, thinking they were absolutely right.
It was dangerous enough to give one’s heart carelessly even to those of the same race—so what if the other party was of a different race?
And humans, no less—beings said to be endlessly greedy?
The young Arpentia had burst into laughter, declaring such a thing would never happen.
Merfolk.
A mysterious race said to live in the deep sea and to possess eternal life.
In truth, they too had a clearly defined lifespan, and of course they were far from a race blessed with true immortality. But as time passed, legends inevitably grew larger than life.
Was it because they so rarely revealed themselves?
Before anyone realized it, merfolk had become legends themselves among humans.
And that legend swelled further, claiming that tasting their flesh and blood would revive even the dead, and grant eternal life to the living—a miraculous elixir.
Do not give your heart to a human.
In other words, never trust or believe a human.
The young Arpentia, locked inside iron bars and weeping, had repeated those words to herself over and over again, realizing how right my parents had been.
Unable to overcome a fleeting curiosity, I had ended up speaking with a human. Deceived by that human, I had been put up as an auction item, advertised as an elixir of immortality. The moment I faced hundreds of greedy gazes at the Auction House, I engraved those words into my bones.
Then did Arpentia regret what had happened that day?
…No. Absolutely not.
If I were to return to that day, I would make the same choice again without the slightest hesitation.
Because that incident led me to meet a young man whom I could dare call my fate.
Originally, I would have been sold at the Auction House and died meaninglessly, like livestock.
But there had been a young man who risked his life to save me.
“It’s all right now.”
Those were the first words he had spoken.
And as he looked at me—naked, chained, trembling in fear—he did not hesitate to remove his own clothes and drape them over me.
He told me he would safely return me to my homeland, that I had nothing to worry about anymore, and he flashed a grin.
What had I done first when I saw that smile?
…Ah, right.
I slapped his cheek.
Because I had belatedly realized that he had been gripping my fin—the most sensitive part of a mermaid’s body, a place allowed only to one’s spouse.
…In any case, that was how I ended up, somewhat unexpectedly, joining the people who would later be called the Wolpen Knights.
There had been so many things.
Truly, far too many things had happened….
But to summarize briefly, those days back then had truly been like a sweet dream.
I had lived within a dream of genuine happiness.
Father, Mother.
For the first time, you were wrong.
You told me never to give my heart to a human, didn’t you?
But these people, though human, are more trustworthy than anyone else.
They are the family I chose, the family I found.
For them, I would willingly give even my heart.
And surely, they would do the same for me.
I want to stay with them.
I want to live laughing together with them.
And.
And….
…….
…Yes.
And dreams, eventually, were bound to end.
An unprecedented spark of war spread across the entire continent. The young man and his companions headed to the front lines, and naturally, Arpentia followed at their side.
And I came face to face with the reality of those who had shone like brilliant sunlight dying one by one.
There were those who lost their lives.
There were traitors.
There were those who collapsed and left.
There were those who sacrificed themselves.
…When I finally came to my senses, only a handful of those once-radiant figures remained, even counting myself.
And then again.
Again, and….
…What happened next?
Ah, yes.
That’s right.
So many things had happened, but the time given to recount each one in detail was far too short.
So regrettably, I would have to skip ahead to the important parts.
…The young man became the Great Emperor.
The three who had remained by his side left for various fronts, declaring they would become shields to block foreign enemies for the Great Emperor.
The wounded Elf departed alone for his homeland, quietly seen off by everyone.
And the young mermaid became a sage, remaining at the side of the Great Emperor.
Right beside the young man who had first made me realize what love was—yet whose fate could never intertwine with mine.
…After that, many more things happened.
The mermaid—the sage—worked tirelessly to fulfill the Great Emperor’s dream.
After striving and striving without rest, I suddenly realized something.
Wrinkles had formed on the young man’s face.
And it was not just him.
The other three, including him, were aging with each passing day.
In other words, they were drawing closer to death day by day.
Only Arpentia—only I—remained unchanged from the beginning.
If time continued to pass like this, I alone would be left behind.
I don’t want that.
I thought.
I don’t want to be left alone.
And so I traveled across the entire continent, seeking every possible method.
My original goal—to halt their aging and extend their lifespans—gradually became twisted into something else: reviving even those who had already passed away.
Building a Sanctum and making a Dragon its Gravekeeper.
Creating a space called the Room of Memories.
And even establishing an Academy to conceal those things—
All of it had been done within that same context.
However, despite all her efforts, the young man came to stand at the very brink of death.
Of the traces of those days that remained, only his two eyes, which had not yet lost their light, still shone.
Who could possibly blame her for tearing at her own flesh and begging him to drink her blood, crying that a mermaid’s body was an elixir of immortality?
The young man refused.
He said that a legend was nothing more than a legend, and asked whether she did not know that better than anyone else. Smiling just as he had when they first met, he spoke those words.
At the sight of him, Arpentia could do nothing but break down in tears.
…And then the young man left.
He was not the only one who left Arpentia’s side.
The mage returned his body to nature and walked the path of Ascension.
The Dragon Knight, unable to endure the pain, had himself devoured by his own Dragon.
The strategist, weakened by old wounds and a curse, met his death in frailty.
What remained was the sage.
Only the young sage, who had never truly grown up, who had never fully matured, was left alone.
Only then did Arpentia suddenly recall the advice her parents had given her in her childhood.
“Never give your heart to a human.”
…Ah.
I see.
So that was what it meant.
Only then did she realize that she had misunderstood the meaning of those words all along.
…But as was always the case, regret came too late.
What remained for her now was nothing but obstinacy and obsession.
That sustained her.
It became the driving force that kept her moving endlessly.
It ruled her thoughts.
Even to the point of making her cross blades with the last remaining radiant one she had longed to meet—
And even in such a situation, it drove her to continue forward without stopping.
No one could know what awaited at the end of that path.
Not her.
Not the young man.
Not anyone else.
No one at all.
And then….
“…Ah.”
Arpentia suddenly came back to her senses once more.
The long years she had spent alone had left her utterly worn down, sometimes plagued by auditory hallucinations and delusions.
There were many times when she would stand blankly, as if walking through thick fog.
This time had been the same.
At last regaining her senses, she looked ahead.
Talia Poas.
Siren Everglenn.
Rikerka Valentin.
The first thing she saw were the backs of the three.
Through the Room of Memories, they had gathered the greatest amount of power and traces, making them the three whose appearances from that era could be reproduced most faithfully.
They were the three she had longed to see again—figures like radiant light.
They were also three who were not yet complete, who should not have been released at this time.
“Ah.”
Arpentia slowly looked around.
Even before she had been swallowed by the thick fog, the surroundings had already been a mess. Now, they were nothing short of ruins.
It was clear that a fierce battle had taken place—one so violent that even she, who had endured countless battlefields, had rarely witnessed such devastation.
“Ah….”
And at the very center of those remnants, Arpentia finally saw him.
Valen Zeisho.
Called the Fairy King, and in this modern age one of only two people—along with herself—who remembered those days.
A radiant person.
Dare she say it—one of her family.
He lay collapsed upon the ground, drenched in blood.
“Ah, ah…!”
Only then did she finally realize what she had done.
But as always—as had been said before—regret came too late.
Valen Zeisho.
The woman quietly murmured the name of the High Elf she had grown sick of hearing in the past.
Who had said it?
That even mortal enemies who once sought to kill each other would, after facing one another over long years, come to understand and empathize with each other more deeply than family.
In that sense, the woman and Valen Zeisho were both archrivals and old friends.
Though she had not always stood at the very front lines, it was true that she had faced off against Valen Zeisho and the others multiple times, staking their lives against one another.
Valen Zeisho—and beyond him, other names surfaced in her mind.
Talia Poas, Siren Everglenn, Rikerka Valentin.
Yes, they too could be called old friends.
“Arpentia.”
Arpentia.
The name once called the sage.
The woman murmured it again.
“…….”
She watched as Arpentia crawled almost on all fours toward the fallen Valen Zeisho.
In the past, she might have burst into mocking laughter, calling it pitiful and foolish.
She might even have gone a step further and taken the defenseless Arpentia and Valen Zeisho’s heads as trophies of war.
But now….
Now she understood Arpentia’s heart more desperately than anyone.
Had she not once shown such a 모습 herself?
And so the woman merely watched in silence.
“…How foolish.”
She muttered quietly.
To Arpentia.
To Valen Zeisho.
And to herself as well.
She brought her hand to her collarbone.
It was where the Brand given to her along with Valen Zeisho’s request had been engraved.
“…Yes.”
There was something she had to do.
Had she not come this far precisely because she did not wish to repeat it again, letting go of everything she once held in her hands?
Had she not come this far with the single resolve that she would never witness such a sight again?
…In that case, there was no reason she could not grant one final wish to a friend departing on a distant journey.
Thinking that, the woman slowly rose from her place.
With the thought that there was not much time left.