To You, Who Will Die Alone in Paradise Chapter 23

“It is alright. Lean on me.”

Then, Kellewen whispered in Dandeleon’s ear. At the same time, Kellewen’s arms pulled Dandeleon’s body back. His stiffly frozen body fit snugly into Kellewen’s embrace. Dandeleon entrusted his entire body weight to Kellewen just like that.

“You are doing well.”

Kellewen whispered again. His voice was warm and gentle.

Encouraged by that voice, Dandeleon slowly opened his eyes.

Spread out before him was the clear and beautiful empty sky. A single massive bird flew across the vast expanse, where not even a cloud could obscure the view. It was the magical beast that was carrying Kellewen and Dandeleon.

Until Kellewen had let out a long whistle in the backyard of Ardenver, Dandeleon had thought he was going to use magic. They had to go to Roalante without being seen, and not just go, but arrive in a matter of hours. Since there was no common-sense way to do that, he had thought magic was the only option left.

But a few seconds after Kellewen’s whistle faded, a giant shape began to descend, blocking out the sun.

“What is that?”

Dandeleon shouted, and Kellewen answered.

“It is a magical beast.”

“A magical beast?!”

Dandeleon’s face turned deathly pale.

“You mean it’s a monster?”

“No, people often think so, but they are a little different.”

The creature that finally landed in Ardenver’s spacious garden was a bird with dazzlingly white feathers. Its body alone was about the size of a large cow, but its long neck made it much taller, and it was impossible to guess the span of its enormous wings when fully spread.

“It is a creature born with magical power from birth. It is different from creatures that have been transformed by demonic energy.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of an animal, not a person, being born with magical power.”

“They are rarely born even in the Elven Forest, so it is not well known.”

Kellewen said as he approached the bird. To his surprise, the bird bent its legs to lower its body. It seemed to be considerate, allowing Kellewen to mount it. Dandeleon belatedly noticed that there was something like a saddle on the bird’s body.

“It is a gentle and good child.”

“…Did you ride something like this on your pilgrimage?”

“I did not ride it continuously. The principle of a pilgrimage is to walk on one’s own feet, and I often traveled with others… But I borrowed its strength when necessary.”

“I see.”

Until then, he hadn’t felt any particular fear about riding the bird. In fact, he was a little excited at the thought of having a novel experience.

But that feeling vanished the moment they left the ground.

“I’m falling! I’m falling!”

“I am holding you tight.”

“Still… aaaaaah!”

For Dandeleon, who had never even ridden a horse in his life and got motion sickness even in carriages, flying on a bird was excessively difficult.

The sky felt completely different when you were in it compared to when you looked up at it from below. The wind, devoid of any spring warmth, lashed at Dandeleon like blades of ice, blowing erratically and shaking his entire body. The anxiety of being so high up that his body wouldn’t even be found if he fell was an added bonus.

“Bleeech!”

And so, a few hours later, upon arriving at the shores of Roalante, Dandeleon dismounted from the bird’s back and immediately retched with a loud noise. The only silver lining was that since he hadn’t eaten anything, there was nothing to come out.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine…”

After heaving for a while, Dandeleon staggered onto the sandy beach and lay down.

He could see the large bird flying across the clear, clean sky. He wondered if it was going to fly back to the royal palace just like that, but soon thought it wouldn’t matter even if it did. He would rather walk back than ride that thing again.

“Why did you suddenly suggest we come here?”

Dandeleon asked as he tried to settle his churning stomach. A reply came from his side.

“Because I wanted to see Xellokal’s Lighthouse.”

“Why the lighthouse all of a sudden?”

“There was something I had to confirm.”

“So, did you confirm it?”

“Yes.”

Dandeleon frowned and sat up. Since a while ago, there had been no proper explanation at all. Just as Dandeleon was about to point this out, he was surprised to see Kellewen’s expression.

Kellewen’s expression was extremely complicated. He looked confused, and he also looked angry, and from another angle, he looked sad. Dandeleon followed Kellewen’s gaze. At the end of his line of sight was the lighthouse.

Though called a lighthouse for convenience, it was a structure that bore no resemblance to a typical lighthouse other than its white, massive body. Where the light should have been was a giant jewel. Around the jewel, which floated slightly above the main structure, halos of light repeatedly appeared and disappeared, drawing complex patterns.

“The high elf Xellokal broke the rules.”

Kellewen muttered.

“A high elf’s magical power must be offered to the guardian tree. But he offered all of his magical power to that lighthouse.”

Dandeleon was surprised.

“Xellokal offered his magic to that lighthouse instead of Yggdrasil?”

To the people of Benoit, Xellokal was a more familiar figure than other high elves. The story of a wandering high elf settling on the shores of Benoit, of all places, had intensely stimulated people’s interest. His eccentric personality, choosing isolation despite being a genius of the century, also contributed to making Xellokal’s character so compelling.

That was why there were many stories in Benoit based on Xellokal. Novels, plays, operas… various stories interpreted Xellokal in their own ways. There was the man who fell in love with an ordinary village maiden, the genius who agonized over his inability to uncover the secrets of magic, and even a radical story claiming that Xellokal was actually a human, not an elf.

But no matter the story, the ending was always the same.

On his one hundredth birthday, Xellokal returns to the Elven Forest and offers his magical power to Yggdrasil. The leaves of Yggdrasil bloom greener than ever before, and Xellokal’s body loses its life and withers away.

Offering magical power to Yggdrasil was the duty of a high elf and the foundation that sustained this continent. No one dared to doubt that fact.

But now, Kellewen was saying something that shook that very foundation.

“But, Xellokal’s Lighthouse was made by gathering the magical power of many people…”

Dandeleon was also a layman when it came to magic, so he didn’t know the details. But any ordinary person would naturally have questions upon seeing Xellokal’s Lighthouse.

What is the power that purifies the demonic energy endlessly surging from the sea?

Since it purifies demonic energy, it must be magic, but all of Xellokal’s magical power was offered to Yggdrasil. If so, where did the magical power that operates the lighthouse come from?

The answer lay in Xellokal’s research. Xellokal had devoted his entire life to developing a method to gather magical power.

There were ordinary elves, not high elves, or even, though rare, individuals of other races who were born with magical power. Xellokal believed that by extracting their magical power and gathering it together, Yggdrasil could be sustained without the sacrifice of high elves.

Xellokal’s Lighthouse was the culmination of his research. Although the loss of all his research materials due to an unforeseen accident was a great misfortune for the continent, the lighthouse he left behind shone brilliantly on the shores of Benoit like a beacon of hope.

“I also thought so until I came here.”

Kellewen said, gazing at the lighthouse shining in the distance.

“But seeing it in person, I understand. The lighthouse’s magical power is pure. There is no other magical power mixed in. Any mage could tell just by looking at it, no, even with their eyes closed and ears covered, they would be able to feel it.”

Dandeleon thought.

A lighthouse that purifies demonic beasts, created by the eccentric genius Xellokal. The fact that the lighthouse’s magic belongs to a single person, something any mage would naturally know. Elves who periodically come to study Xellokal’s Lighthouse. Xellokal, who is praised just like the other high elves who offered their magic to Yggdrasil to save the continent.

The stench of lies and deceit.

“The Elven Forest must have already known.”

Dandeleon muttered.

“They knew, and yet they concealed the fact…”

They spread the story that Xellokal had offered his magical power to Yggdrasil, just like the other high elves.

Because nothing good would come from the truth being revealed. Dandeleon’s lips twisted into a smirk. News that they had failed to extend Yggdrasil’s lifespan would only have caused anxiety among the people of the continent. But Dandeleon thought there was something else the Elven Forest truly feared.

If a high elf born after Xellokal were to hear this story, how would he react?

There was nothing to be gained by leaving a precedent of breaking the rules. For the command to sacrifice one’s life to carry weight, it was necessary for it to be a fact that all who came before had done so.

So the Elven Forest concealed Xellokal’s disobedience and erased it from history. And on top of that, they layered the lie that everything had proceeded according to the natural order.

It was a very unpleasant story.

Dandeleon raised his head and studied Kellewen’s expression. And he discovered that while there was pain and resignation in his eyes, there was no surprise.

“You expected this?”

“…I hoped it wasn’t true.”

Kellewen answered slowly.

“At first, it was a simple question, but… yes, I think I expected it. Perhaps for a long time… I expected it, but to confirm it in person…”

Kellewen could not continue. He opened his lips, then closed them repeatedly without making a sound. The sea breeze kept disheveling Kellewen’s long hair, but his gaze, fixed on the lighthouse, was even more severely disheveled.

His fragile appearance, as if he might collapse at any moment, was unfamiliar. Dandeleon approached Kellewen but did not know how to comfort him.

So Dandeleon took Kellewen’s hand.

Kellewen’s hand was warm, as always. He had intended to offer comfort, but it was Dandeleon who ended up receiving warmth. Not wanting to lose the warmth transmitted through their joined hands, he squeezed a little tighter.

Kellewen turned his head and looked at Dandeleon.

The moment their eyes met, Dandeleon had a premonition.

There are things one can know without any special power, without directly seeing the future.

The sunlight shining down from above is especially warm, and even the ceaselessly blowing wind pauses for a moment. Eyes filled with turmoil regain their composure the instant they turn toward him, only to be swept up in passion, his expression on the verge of tears. A blush spreads across white cheeks, and red lips part. Everything fades to white, leaving only the two of them in this world.

In the middle of this world for two, Dandeleon suddenly feels the urge to run away.

“Dandeleon, I love you.”

Thump. Dandeleon’s heart sank with an anxious sound.

“At first, I was angry at your words, and I was also offended, but… deep in my heart, I knew. You are too kind a person, and those words were actually for my sake.”

Those words probably referred to when he had called Kellewen livestock. It was the first time in his life he had been called kind. His former self would have wanted to scoff at such a thing, but he didn’t feel like it. He just closed his eyes against a wave of inexplicable dizziness.