"I think this spot should be far enough," I announced.

"Do you really have to do this?"

"Nia… I believe we've already discussed this, and yes, I intend to do so. You know what he did? It's time for me to clear the slate with him, not only for us, but also for me to move on.

"I see, I suppose, I have nothing else to say then. But can you-"

"I have not forgotten about the promise I made, I will honour it.

Five weeks ago, for the first time in one whole year, we left the peninsula that we settled as our headquarters. Together with Heon and Nia, we made our way back here, toward where we first encountered Heon.

Today, I... no, we have come to settle a matter that has been left unresolved for far too long.

"Nia."

"Hum?"

"Won’t you wish me good luck?"

"I … Do you even need that? "

"I suppose I don’t." Then my focus shifted from her to the giant presence next to her, "We’re back here, aren’t we, hein Heon? From here, it would only be us, you stay with Nia, please. " Reaching onto her, I added, "No need to worry about us, it will be alright, we’re not the same anymore."

"..."

"Now then, see you later, guys."

With these words, we parted ways from Nia and Heon to settle matters with an old friend of ours.

***

After having traveled for the equivalent of a mini-journey, I reached the ledge leading to the place I’m heading for;

"Ready?"

"Of course, I’m ready. I’ve trained myself for one year. How couldn’t I be ready? "

"Huh. That’s kind of refreshing to hear. So partner, let's do this. "

"Yeah."

Immediately after that short exchange, I jumped off the ledge I was standing upon, which led me to fall into a gigantic crevasse within which I almost met my death.

Having reached the bottom, wasting no time, I walked in the direction I felt I would find what I was looking for.

For several minutes, I walked, which made me reminisce about how vast this cavity was. After quite a while, I reached the spot.

Sitting on a rock shaped like some sort of throne was a man with golden hair. He wore the same armor as the one from that day, with the same inflicted damage on the ribs.

On his right hand was the same spear; that served to stab a certain person.

Something got me thinking for a while already, especially after we confronted non-remnant humans like Solomon and Nia in these woods, but today I will finally have the answer.

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"It has been a while. I sincerely hope you haven’t forgotten about me. "

These words came out half-assedly, but they were clearly expecting an answer.

Why speak?

Well, for two reasons.

One, because I wanted to, and two, because I needed to confirm something I was almost seventy-five percent certain of.

A long moment of silence instilled the place, before a voice that sounded old but clearly belonged to someone who would qualify as a young adult came out. It sounded rugged, exhausted, but also rusty.

"You... You’re the foggy child from that day."

It responded, just as I thought.

It wasn’t a remnant, this man was alive.

"I do not know, who or what you mean by "foggy child," but if you’re speaking of the one you thoroughly impaled two years ago, then it is safe to assume that it is me that you are talking about." Looking around to ascertain the presence of a certain person, but failing to find her around, I couldn’t help but ask, " This might sound presumptuous, but I have to ask, where is she? I don’t feel her around. "

Back then, there were two of them, an old woman and this man. We managed to neutralize the woman, but before we could finish her, what happened to her?

Standing on his throne like a king, the man said,

"It’s daring of you to ask that after what you did to her?"

Did we do anything?

Hon, do you remember having done anything mean to anyone?

Absolutely not.

"Is it safe to assume that she’s …"

Well, it wasn’t as if I hadn't considered this possibility. After getting impaled, my next memory was of me being taken care of by Heon.

What happened in between us is a complete mystery to me.

We did mess her up really badly, so it is clearly possible that we indeed put her to eternal rest.

"I see, so may I ask another question? Despite how old she looked, she was your wife, wasn’t she? Then why not come at us for revenge if we really did what you suggest we did? She was precious to you, wasn’t she? So I would like to know. Why? "

My question was not so unexpectedly not answered verbally. Instead, I received another form of answer, which sadly didn’t answer my question.

He was shaking, not out of fear but out of anger.

"Why remain silent? What exactly were you waiting for here?"

Once again, I received no response, but his hands were shaking but firmly clenched onto his spear.

I knew that the discussion wouldn’t lead anywhere, so I announced.

"Well, if it is like this, I suppose we’ll skip the chitchat, and go straight to the reason for my presence." With these words said, I retrieved my sword, which used to be Solomon’s, and pointed it at the man, "I- what we did can’t be undone, nor does what you did to us. We can only move on, but to thoroughly do so, we’ll have to cleanse the slate with you first, which means, Mister, we are here to settle matters with you. "

"This sword! Where did you find it? What did you-"

"I’m sorry, Mister, but just as you were an instant ago, I’m no longer interested in civilized discussion… If you have anything to say, let that spear of yours speak for you. "

Immediately after my taunting, the man stood up from his stone-made throne, and instantly a powerful blast occurred. It was nothing explosive, just a raw blast of mana, his mana.

What a waste of mana. Is this supposed to be intimidating.

The man was currently emitting a halo of white mana, which could be assumed to be related to light magic.

The next second, after something happened, that something was him disappearing from where he had previously stood.

"Hon, he’s coming."

Something I assumed was supposed to be killing intent came darting at me.

"Roger that."

It happened so fast that it wouldn’t be accurate to qualify what happened within the realm of "seconds".

With a clang, which came quite late compared to the action, I blocked a thrust of his spear, aiming once again at my chest.

"The chest once again? You should’ve gone for something else, Mister, I might not look like it, but I do learn from my past mistakes.

Still blocking the tip of his spear, I sent off a kick which he immediately avoided by backing off from several meters away, in a way that could easily have been mistaken for some sort of téléportation magic due to its mere speed.

"So partner, so how is he?"

"I’m not sure yet, but I think I didn’t travel that much distance for nothing."

"Hahaha, glad to hear that. He’s all yours then."