Side Story 08. [After Story] Autumn Festival (2)
“Ahahahaha!”
Riding down the grassy slope on a sled, Sid laughed gleefully.
Behind him, Damien sat close, skillfully steering the makeshift sled as they glided smoothly down the hill.
“Hold on tight, Sid!”
“Yes, brother!”
Giggling, Sid clung tightly to Damien’s arm with his small hands, doing exactly as he was told.
With one arm, Damien securely held Sid, and with the other, he expertly maneuvered the sled.
“Here we go—!”
“Ahahahaha—!”As the two led the way down the slope, their sled was followed by a stream of children and adults, all sliding down with excited screams and laughter.
It was the second day of the Autumn Festival.
South of Crossroad. The Grass Sledding Hill.
Five years ago, during the final battle against the monsters, this once-flat area had collapsed, creating a slope and leaving it completely devastated.
Now, five years later, the land had transformed into a firm hill covered in lush grass.
Perfect for sledding.
“Is this… is this safe?”
From a distance, Lilly watched the scene with visible unease.
The activity was simple and intuitive: spraying water on a grassy slope and sliding down it on sleds.
Since the grass sledding hill was run directly by Crossroad, safety personnel were stationed everywhere, and various safety measures had been installed.
But…
“One more time! Let’s go again, brother!”
“Shall we? Alright, let’s go!”
Sid and Damien, who had already gone down the hill three times, were laughing and heading back up to the top.
“…”
Watching Sid having so much fun, Lilly couldn’t bring herself to tell him to stop.
She sighed inwardly.
‘If my legs were normal, I could have played with Sid like that too.’
Until recently, Sid had never shown much interest in outdoor activities. He was a calm child who preferred reading fairy tales quietly indoors.
For Lilly, whose legs were impaired, it had been a relief that her son was introverted. But now, she realized that wasn’t the case at all.
Seeing how much he enjoyed running and playing like this…
“Brother! One more time! One more!”
After going down for the fifth time, Sid tugged at Damien, urging him for another ride.
Though he was starting to look exhausted, sweating profusely, the six-year-old showed no signs of slowing down. Just then—
“Sid! How about riding with your uncle this time?”
“Oh, Uncle Zenis! Yes, please!”
Zenis, who had been supervising the safety of the sledding hill, appeared at just the right moment.
‘Thank you, Zenis!’
Damien mouthed the words of gratitude to him.
With a grin, Zenis effortlessly hoisted the sled under one arm and Sid under the other, carrying both up the hill. Sid, overjoyed, burst into giggles.
“Sid has… whew, so much energy! Whew…”
Panting, Damien walked over to Lilly and sat beside her.
“Thank you, Damien, for playing with Sid.”
Lilly smiled, but her voice carried a hint of bitterness that she couldn’t completely hide.
“Without a father and with me like this… it seems Sid hasn’t been able to play as much as he wanted.”
“…”
Damien looked at her with concern. Lilly brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.
“I’ve been worrying a lot lately. About the things we don’t have in our home. About the scars Sid might carry because of that. So…”
“Lilly.”
Damien gave her a warm smile.
“You’ll only exhaust yourself thinking like that.”
“…”
“I think… instead of worrying about what you can’t give Sid, it’s better to focus on what you can give him. Don’t you think?”
‘What I can give him…’
Lilly repeated his words in her mind. Then she held up her hands in mock surrender.
“You’ve really grown up, haven’t you?”
“We’re all still kids in some ways and adults in others. That’s just life.”
Lilly and Damien had known each other for a long time.
They had met as mercenaries in Crossroad, fighting side by side against the black spider at the forward base.
Lilly was also one of the few survivors who remembered Van, the young mercenary girl who had died in Damien’s place.
For a while, the two sat quietly together, watching Zenis and Sid laugh as they sledded down the hill. On land that had once been a battlefield against monsters, the children now played without a care in the world. ṛАℕɵ𐌱È𝒮
“After I lost Far-Sight…”
Damien began slowly, breaking the silence,
“It was tough at first.”
“You were born with exceptional vision, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. I had lived my whole life in a world where seeing like that was normal. So, even though my vision just became ordinary… it felt like a huge loss. A kind of reverse adjustment, I guess you could call it. It felt like my eyesight had deteriorated drastically.”
Lilly tried to imagine it.
To suddenly lose Far-Sight, a gift you had always had.
Would it be like suddenly losing all color in your vision or losing the ability to perceive depth? Would that be comparable to the sense of loss Damien felt?
Or perhaps even that wouldn’t come close.
“For a while, especially at the start of my travels, it was really difficult. Adjusting to normal eyesight was harder than I thought. Without Jörmungandr, I probably wouldn’t have even been able to navigate.”
“…But doesn’t he only want to go north?”
“Exactly. He’s basically a compass that only points north…”
“Ahaha.”
Lying in the shade nearby, Jörmungandr hissed in irritation, clearly displeased at being treated like a compass.
Damien chuckled and patted the serpent’s head, nodding.
“But, after losing it, I started to see things I hadn’t noticed before.”
“Like what?”
“For example, things that are close by.”
Damien met Lilly’s gaze.
“I used to always look at something far away, but now I can focus on what’s right in front of me.”
“Close… right in front of me…”
Lilly murmured, repeating Damien’s words. He smiled and gestured subtly with his eyes.
“Isn’t it the same for you, Lilly? There are things you see now that you couldn’t before, right?”
“…”
He was right.
After her three years in Crossroad, Lilly had been seeing a world that she couldn’t before.
A world she hadn’t noticed when her legs were whole.
A world invisible to her before she lost someone she loved.
And a world that she couldn’t comprehend before she had a child…
“Becoming an adult… perhaps it’s the process of seeing new worlds, little by little, ones we couldn’t see before.”
Just as Lilly had lost Kalail and her legs…
Damien had lost Ban and Far-Sight.
Even after such profound losses, life continued.
Grass grew on the once-ruined land, and on that grass, children rode sleds.
Autumn returned, and the festival was held once again.
And children, bearing their scars, grew up into adults.
“…I want to be a good mom.”
Lilly’s voice was soft.
Damien replied with a gentle smile.
“The fact that you’re worrying about it so much already means you’re a good mom.”
“…”
Taking a deep breath, Lilly let out a faint smile.
“Thank you, Damien. I’ll remember. To focus on what’s close, on what I can give—not on what I can’t.”
Damien grinned.
“Sid is going to grow up just fine. I’m sure of it.”
At that moment, Zenis and Sid returned.
Sid’s red hair was covered with bits of grass, and he was beaming brightly. In contrast, Zenis looked drenched in sweat, his face one of utter exhaustion.
“Haah… Six-year-olds… haah… have way too much energy… haah…”
“How many more times did you go?”
“Seven… seven times…”
Lilly reached out to pat Sid’s head, who had now ridden a total of twelve grass sled rides.
“Did you have fun?”
“I did!”
Sid grinned widely, then hesitated for a moment, fidgeting awkwardly.
“…Mom, you must’ve wanted to ride too, huh? I’m sorry I rode so much by myself.”
Surprised by his unexpected words, Lilly opened her mouth to comfort him. But before she could say anything, Sid clenched his little fist and declared proudly,
“But when I grow as big as Brother and Uncle, I’ll take you sledding too, Mom!”
“…”
Lilly tried to respond, but instead, she held back her words and wrapped her son tightly in her arms.
“Alright. Mom is already looking forward to that day.”
The grass sledding hill, which had opened in the morning, temporarily closed for lunch.
The midday sun was hot, and the grass needed to be repaired and smoothed out.
Zenis and Damien strolled toward Crossroad’s city center, chatting as they went. They had agreed to have lunch together.
“To think the Margrave decided to turn this place into a sledding hill… she really is something else.”
“Lady Evangeline must have put a lot of thought into this festival. She must really want to revitalize the city.”
Of course, neither of them knew that part of the reason was simply that Evangeline wanted to try grass sledding herself…
When they arrived at the Crossroad restaurant district, the streets were bustling. But as soon as the restaurant owners noticed the two of them, they greeted them warmly and began arranging seats. It was clear they recognized the two as former priests who had served in the city.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the attention, the two wandering priests settled into a modest restaurant. Before they could even place an order, a platter of fruits and drinks was set on their table.
“On the house! It’s on the house!”
“Oh, no, you don’t have to…”
“Do you remember how five years ago you saved my husband with your healing magic? You probably don’t, but I do!”
The restaurant owner chuckled loudly and disappeared into the kitchen. Left with no choice, the two graciously accepted the complimentary offerings.
“So, are you heading north as soon as the festival ends?”
Zenis asked as he peeled a fruit and popped it into his mouth.
“Yes. I don’t have much time left, actually.”
Damien gently stroked the snake coiled around his neck.
“Jörmungandr is getting weaker.”
“…”
Zenis looked at Jörmungandr, who lay resting with its eyes closed, his expression complex.
After the final battle, all beings born of the Evil Dragon had vanished. However, there were a few exceptions.
Some had transcended into higher beings, while others had downgraded themselves into lower entities. A small number had managed to alter their very nature, breaking free from the Evil Dragon’s influence and continuing to exist.
“According to His Highness, the Succubus Queen transcended her nature and became a higher being. That’s why she was able to keep living. Apparently, she’s in another world now…”
“And what about Jörmungandr?”
“The opposite. He downgraded himself into a lower entity.”
During the battle against Night Bringer, Jörmungandr had repeatedly shed his skin to preserve his life, becoming a small snake in the process.
Since then, he had abandoned his former stature and intellect, continually reducing his essence until he became a completely different, weaker existence just to survive.
The reason he had gone to such lengths to stay alive was simple.
“To reach the northernmost end of the world.”
“…He’s ridiculously consistent, isn’t he?”
Zenis shook his head in disbelief. Damien smiled bitterly.
“But he’s getting weaker and weaker. His molting cycles are becoming shorter and shorter too.”
“Now that you mention it, he’s definitely… smaller than he was five years ago. A lot smaller.”
“Right.”
Damien plucked a grape from the bunch and held it out in front of Jörmungandr’s mouth. The snake hesitated, clearly reluctant, but eventually nibbled at it.
“…”
“Even though Jörmungandr managed to survive, his main sustenance is ambient magic in the atmosphere. And right now, there’s practically none left.”
“…”
“I was too complacent. I should have gone straight north. I thought he’d stay healthy for longer, so I took my time, but… I didn’t expect him to weaken this quickly…”
As Damien began to blame himself, Zenis shot him a sly look.
“But, there was ‘something’ out west, wasn’t there?”
“What?”
“You knew Jörmungandr was getting weaker, yet you still went to the western edge first… That means there was ‘something’ there. Am I wrong?”
“…”
Damien fell silent. Zenis pressed him further.
“What did you see out there, in the west?”
“…I’m sorry. I can’t tell you, Zenis.”
Damien shook his head slightly.
“This is something I can report only to Prince Ash.”
That was why he had returned.
To meet with Ash.
When Zenis noticed the sharp glint in Damien’s eyes—the same sharpness he’d had during his active duty days—he raised his hands in mock surrender.
“Alright, alright. This old man didn’t hear anything.”
“Thank you, Zenis.”
“Just finish reporting that to him, and after the festival ends, let’s head north together.”
Damien blinked in surprise.
“You’re going north too, Zenis?”
“Not to the world’s edge like you, but… there’s a place in that direction I need to visit.”
Zenis grinned mischievously.
“One of our old comrades has been appointed priest-chief of a little island village up there. I thought I’d drop by and visit. Want to come along?”
–TL Notes–
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