Love Letter From The Future

I was leading a new daily life in the elven village, basking in tranquility for the first time in a while, to the point I caught myself thinking whether I had been this idle in the last few months.

It was hardly surprising. Ever since I received a love letter from the future, my life had been no different from a battlefield awash with blood and gore.

Nowadays, life is rather blissful compared to before..

Regardless of the fact that I was in the frigid and barren north—in an Elven village short on food, no less—the situation remained unchanged.

It wasn’t, in fact, a particularly harsh environment for me.

The snowfield’s biting cold couldn’t manage to permeate my flesh and the short supply of rations could be made up for with my hard work.

By hunting Snow Leopards in large numbers, for example..

This had been proven during the previous banquet. The snow leopard meat I hunted back then still remained, being used as an essential food source.

It had been a pivotal event in many ways.

Still, some people did treat me warily, thanks to my exceptional martial prowess.

So I made a conscious effort to keep a moderate distance from them and avoided needlessly showing off my strength, all to prevent any unnecessary discord within the village..

I simply endeavored to adapt to the Elven way of life as part of my effort to quietly blend in.

I couldn’t help but wonder how many days had gone by since I began silently taking various tasks in the village.

Before I knew it, the Elves and I were exchanging jokes without reservation. While not close enough to call them my best friends, we had a perfect relationship as neighborly acquaintances.

At this point, I didn’t even have a spare moment to feel alone.

Because the more the Elves in the village came to trust me, the number of tasks I had to take on also grew.

Especially matters occurring outside the village—they were solely my duty.

It was inevitable, as the elven village was located within the coniferous forest, where even a short distance beyond it was fraught with danger.

After all, I was the strongest in the village.

Ruget had sought me out today for that very reason.

“A fire broke out last night?”

“Yes, smoke was spotted about half a day’s distance away. The scale isn’t too large, but I thought I should inform you.”

Slightly turning my gaze away, I hummed in thought.

Of all places, it had to be at a half a day’s distance.

Wasn’t that around the same area where we found traces of humans during the last hunt? It seemed I’d need to visit Elder Poff and familiarize myself with the terrain in greater detail.

As my expression darkened, Ruget quickly caught on to my concern.

He let out a wry smile and asked,

“Are you fine with this? You’re a human, after all. Maybe it’d be better for you to return to your own kind.”

“Ha! And which human would welcome a traitor who sided with Elves?”

I dismissed his advice with a scoff, but I couldn’t help feeling a pang of unease inside.

What on earth am I even doing in this place?

Like Ruget said, I was human.

My homeland wasn’t the coniferous forest. It was the bountiful, welcoming East and, moreover, all my cherished family and comrades lived in the South.

There was absolutely no reason for me to stay in the frigid desolate North.

The only excuse I managed to muster was a hollow claim that I had yet to fully grasp the elves’ circumstances.

It was pure nonsense.

What more information could I possibly gain by staying in this village?

They were just ordinary villagers who worried about their daily meals. They had no connection to the Elves of the so-called ‘Headquarters,’ where the cult supposedly thrived.

However, I was deliberately turning a blind eye to that fact.

There’d be no one left to protect this place if I left..

Without someone to hunt snow leopards in bulk, the villagers would once again go hungry. And there’d be no one to bring advancements of human civilization to them.

I did intend to return.

Yes, I’d have to go back someday. But today was not that day.

I still had work left to do.

Ironically, I had grown attached to the Elves.

Who would have thought that a noble of the Empire would come to befriend Elves?

It was a disgraceful thing—a shameless one at that. After all, weren’t my hands already stained with Elven blood?

I could barely suppress the urge to retch every time I recalled that fact.

I downed the cold water in the cup I was holding in one go.

Ruget continued to scrutinise me, in case I had second thoughts.

Nevertheless, my reply remained unchanged.

I asserted it once more in a subdued voice.

“I’m not leaving. Not yet… maybe someday, but not now.”

“You’re always so honest.”

Ruget replied with a faint smile, lifting his own cup.

There was no such thing as tea here.

Perhaps somewhere in the coniferous forest, there might be a plant that could be used for tea leaves, but we didn’t have the means to search for it for now, so we simply talked over cold water..

That too was part of the way the Elves lived.

“To be frank, I was uneasy at first—after all, I’m the one who decided to bring you into the village… but now, I feel like it was the best decision I’ve ever made.”

“Why are you being so sentimental?”

At my disgusted tone, Ruget’s smile grew more bitter.

It didn’t take long for him to get to the point.

“One of our villagers has gone missing.”

I remained silent.

I studied Ruget’s face in silence, noticing that his usual spark had vanished.

With a desperate tone, my friend asked me.

“He was out gathering moss, you see. But then a fire broke out there… he must be dead, right?”

So I had no choice but to reply as such.

“…We have to see it for ourselves to know.”

When it came to searching for survivors, time was of the essence.

I decided to make preparations at once to go seek out Elder Poff.

***

My luggage was sparse.

Anyways, most of the supplies I needed for survival were already stored in my pouch. An expandable spatial pouch was that convenient.

I planned to step out of the hut with just my weapon secured around my waist.

If only Aviang hadn’t stopped me.

“Where are you going?”

It was a question flung out as she abruptly emerged from the room.

She had been living with me for quite some time now, and she had every right to know where I was headed.

I replied as nonchalantly as possible.

“To the forest. An Elf has gone missing.”

Having said my piece, I tried to head off but she moved faster..

I could tell she might be slightly frowning.

The moment my eyes turned to my back, Aviang had already come right up near me.

“Are you talking about the place where the fire broke out?”

“Yeah, something about it seems off.”

“B-But that’s dangerous!”

Her voice rose in alarm.

She was an overly anxious Elf, even though there was a time she even used to despise me.

Trying to reassure her, I smiled wryly.

“What’s so dangerous about it? I’m just going to have a quick look around and come back.”

“But what if you run into humans…?”

“I’m a human too, you know.”

In the end, it was Aviang who ran out of arguments.

Her eyes drooped, seeming quite down, and I sensed something odd in her expression.

Concern, anxiety and restlessness.

Eventually, I let out a sigh and turned back toward her.

With a soft thump, I placed both my hands on her shoulders.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon… and I don’t intend to die, either. Without me, you’d die too, wouldn’t you?”

“Why are you going this far?”

Her question caught me completely off guard, leaving me momentarily speechless.

“Didn’t you say elves were your enemy? You even treated me so harshly… so why are you suddenly pretending to care about the elves now?”

My breath caught in my throat.

Her tone sounded flat, but the tears welling in her blue eyes betrayed her true emotions.

She was confused.

Confused by my erratic behavior, by the sight of me caring for the very Elves I had slain by the dozens.

Even I could see how contrived and contradictory I was being.

My mouth went dry as I struggled to think of a response. Even so, in the end, all I could muster was a feeble reply.

“I’m not sure myself.”

Her brows furrowed slightly and I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze.

“That’s just how humans are. Our lives are so terribly short that if we don’t let ourselves be fickle every now and then, every day feels like a waste.”

It was a side I had once seen in a certain orphanage director.

I might have considered him a coward back then.. Despite understanding his reasoning, I couldn’t forgive his wrongdoing.

Yet duality was an attribute everyone possessed.

I was no exception either.

Though I had cut down countless enemies, I could never completely abandon my sympathy and compassion.

And so, here I was, a human who bore the pain of those contradictions every single day.

I just never expected to reveal such feelings to an Elf.

No answer came to my sigh-filled confession. Eventually, after a long pause, Aviang started disclosing her own past.

“I’ve no idea who my parents are… all I remember is nearly being bitten to death by a snow leopard when I was little.”

Come to think of it, she had always been especially afraid of snow leopards.

I listened to her story without interrupting.

“Ever since that day, it’s just been my younger sister and me, relying on each other to survive. I loved and trusted my own kind but, to keep ourselves fed, I had to become a spy. But you—why are you protecting me?”

“For no reason.”

It was already the second time I’d given such a vague answer.

Nothing more needed to be said; Aviang bit down on her lips, her gaze filled with hesitation.

“…Could you possibly save Betty too?”

“Sorry, I’m not sure.”

Aviang’s younger sister was at the ‘Headquarters.’

I couldn’t possibly promise that I could rescue her. Hearing my honest answer, Aviang gave me a bitter smile, as if already expecting it.

And then, for the first time, she began to say something I’d never heard before.

It was the intel she hadn’t revealed even under violence and threats.

“My younger sister has gray hair, just like me. And blue eyes too.”

It was as if those features held some special significance.

As I remained silent, Aviang continued her confession.

“Do you remember when you were asking about the double-headed serpent that lives in the southern Great Forest… There’s a woman who delivers those serpents to the ‘Headquarters.’ And gray hair is proof that her blood runs through us.”

Could there really be a woman capable of crossing such a vast distance alone?

I couldn’t wrap my head around it, and was about to pose a counter-question.

If only that title had not burst out from Aviang’s lips before that.

“…They call her a ‘Vampire.’ The one who gave me her blood.”

It was a name I heard far too many times before.

Before I knew it, my mouth had clamped shut.

“Gray hair and blue eyes—they’re the proof. I beg you, save my little sister….”

Out of nowhere, certain people came to my mind.

Are my comrades still worrying about me?

As Aviang begged with tears streaming down her face.

My story was taking a new turn.

***

The gray-haired girl opened her eyes.

The sound of her laboured breathing came out weak, and her blue eyes, darting around anxiously, appeared so forlorn.

Beside that sickbed, a silver-haired woman was letting out a sigh.

“That’s exactly why I said it wouldn’t work….”

Her voice was somber.

She held her forehead as a pounding migraine set in and, with the agony, came certain recollections.

Yes, there was a fire.

And after that, there was a deafening blast. It was the sound of all our prepared strategic supplies exploding.

But how on earth did it happen?

She had set out with an elite force from the Yurdina family, and neither she nor her sharp-sensed companions had noticed anything off.

Yet, Seria didn’t get to wonder about it for long.

A petite, brown-haired girl started pressing Seria, idly twisting a strand of her hair around her finger as she spoke.

“Hmph, what does a brat like her could possibly know? Acting all high and mighty, only to rely on a scroll to crawl back to the main house… Does she think we don’t want to save Master as much as she does?”

With every remark, Seria found it harder and harder to hold back her emotions.

The identity of the two women who were ridiculing her was evident.

The Saintess and Elsie Rinella.

Among the forces that had gone to the North, they were undoubtedly the strongest. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say their presence accounted for more than half of the group’s combat power.

They were monsters, single-handedly capable of changing the tide of battle.

Had they come along, would the outcome have been different?

Seria bit her lip, realising anew how lacking she was.

She thought that now she understood why the man from the future hadn’t wanted to take her along.

Regardless, the conversation between the Saintess and Elsie continued.

“Please don’t be so harsh… Sister Yurdina did her best in her own way.”

“Do you think we assembled a subjugation force because we weren’t giving it our all? The Empire, the Holy Nation, and even the Yurdina family’s private troops… Ugh, now it finally feels like we can get serious about this.”

It seemed the two were working on reorganizing forces in the rear.

A force designed to sweep through the coniferous forest completely—

An army formed through the cooperation of the Empire, the Holy Nation, and the Yurdina family?

But Seria knew something they didn’t.

This perhaps could have turned out to be the wrong decision.

“…We’ve found him.”

The women’s conversation came to an abrupt halt.

The moment their puzzled eyes focused on Seria, she shouted, almost hysterically.

“I said we’ve found him! Senior Ian is still in the coniferous forest…”

“What nonsense is this?”

Elsie’s voice became hostile.

She strode forward and clutched Seria’s collar with her small hand.

A growl-like tone scraped past Seria’s ears.

“You found him, but you came back alone? Are you out of your mind?! There’s no way—”

“He’s lost his memory.”

She choked out that single statement between gasps and tears.

Elsie’s face turned blank and so did the Saintess’.

“He’s lost his memory, hic… so he regards the elves as his own kind now….”

Clear tears streamed down her face, falling one after another.

Elsie remained silent for a while, then released her hold on Seria’s collar.

With a dull thud, Seria regained her freedom, yet the girl’s tears showed no sign of stopping.

Elsie stared at her now-empty hands, muttering quietly.

“…Lost his memory?”

Then, did all of it disappear?

All those precious moments they shared, the emotions, and the memories of their love.

It felt like someone was ripping out a piece of her heart.

The story was gaining momentum, intersecting continuously.

A breaking point is drawing near…

The Saintess couldn’t help but think /genesisforsaken