A Love Offered to the Final Guardian: A Suicidal Boy Finds Meaning in Life in Another World - Logs and Scars, the Guardian's Old Wounds

That's wrong, he thought. As the morning light began to envelop the village, Kanata stood frozen before the smithy, "Kaldo's Forge." Marco's words still echoed in his ears. "[sad]Lilia-nee left for the outer perimeter before dawn. She always does that... all alone." The back he'd seen last night from the watchtower. Those shoulders, faintly trembling beneath the light of the two moons. He couldn't get the image out of his head. (She always goes alone, huh.) Kanata realized there was a kind of pain in his chest that he'd never felt before. He'd never ached for someone else's sake. In the mortal world, he'd barely had the strength to deal with his own pain. He'd never had the luxury to notice anyone else's. "[excited]Aniki, what's wrong? You look pale." Marco poked his head out from the workshop entrance. There was the usual smudge of soot on his right cheek. His large brown eyes peered worriedly at Kanata's expression. "...Which direction did Lilia go?" Kanata's voice was so low and serious it surprised even himself. Marco's eyes widened for just a moment. Then, as if understanding something, his mouth set into a firm line. "[serious]The northeast outer perimeter. About a kilometer past the barrier, there's a place with a bunch of old fallen trees lined up. She always does her initial reconnaissance there." Having said that, Marco pressed a small leather pouch into Kanata's hand. Inside were dried medicinal herbs and simple bandages. "[gentle]It's a first-aid kit I got from Granny Hanna. No point in me having it, so you take it, Aniki." "...You sure?" "[excited]Of course I'm sure! Now hurry up and go!" Marco slapped Kanata on the back with a bang. It was hard enough to hurt. But that hand, Kanata felt, had trembled just a little. Kanata broke into a run. ──That's wrong. This feeling was different from any impulse he'd ever felt in the mortal world. It wasn't for himself. Moving for someone else's sake—that was a first. (Lilia.) As he ran, Kanata repeated that name inside his chest. The loneliness he'd glimpsed last night behind her cold demeanor. Her trembling shoulders. Once he'd seen that, he couldn't stay still any longer. The northern edge of the village, the boundary line of the barrier, came into view. He could see the air shimmering faintly. A transparent wall enveloping the village. Just beyond the barrier, a milky-white dense fog already hung thick. Kanata didn't stop his feet. The moment he passed through the barrier's membrane, his skin tingled sharply. And then—he plunged into the fog. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The forest's outer perimeter was a completely different world from inside the village. Visibility was barely ten meters. The thick fog obscured everything, and the trunks of giant trees loomed up like hazy shadows. The air was damp, and the smell of earth and leaf mold stung his nose. The ground beneath his feet was soft with fallen leaves, and with every step he took, the faint sounds were swallowed up by the forest. (Where is she?) Kanata kept running in the direction Marco had told him. His own breathing was ragged. His legs threatened to tangle. But he couldn't stop. That's when it happened. A heavy impact sound—*DOOM*—echoed out. Not far. Just ahead. Kanata sprinted with all his might towards the source of the sound. Weaving through the trees, leaping over fallen trunks, his feet catching in the mire, he just pushed forward. And then—he saw it. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ It was a colossal magical beast, easily four meters long. Black, gleaming scales covered its entire body, and countless spines grew from its back. Its four legs were thick, and the ground shook with every step it took. Its tail was as long as its body, and at the tip was a sickle-like blade made of bone. It had six eyes. Crimson-glowing pupils were tracking their prey. A Valgrim. And facing it head-on, silver hair danced. It was Lilia. She was concentrating magical power into both hands, forming a blade of light. Her deep indigo cloak billowed, and her waist-length silver hair streamed in the wind. The blue gem on her forehead—the Guardian's proof, Serafi's Tear—was glowing fiercely. "[cold]There." Lilia thrust out her right hand. An arrow of light shot forth and struck the Valgrim's scales. But the scales were hard, and the light shattered on the surface. The Valgrim roared. A thunderous roar that felt like it would burst his eardrums. And then, its scythe-like tail swept sideways. Lilia leaped to dodge it. But—her movement was a split second too slow. (She's exhausted.) Kanata understood. She'd been standing on the watchtower last night, came here before dawn, and had been fighting ever since. Her stamina was nearing its limit. The Valgrim pressed its attack. Its tail swung twice, three times, and Lilia kept dodging. But then, her foot caught in the mire. Off-balance, the Valgrim's tail struck Lilia directly in the side. "Gh—!" Lilia's body was sent flying, slammed violently against the trunk of a thick tree. Her silver hair was disheveled, her cloak torn. The cloth at her shoulder slipped, revealing her exposed left shoulder—and an old, raised white scar was visible. And from it, vivid red began to seep. The old wound had split open. (Lilia!!) Kanata's body moved before he could think. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ A thick log lying on the ground. About a meter and a half long, as thick as a person's thigh. Kanata grabbed it with both hands and charged in front of the Valgrim. The six crimson eyes all turned towards Kanata at once. He was terrified. His legs trembled. The log in his hands felt hopelessly unreliable. There was no way something like this could even scratch those scales. But. (Like hell I'm going to let you hurt Lilia any more.) Kanata shouted. "[angry]Over here!!" He raised the log and swung it down with all his might towards the Valgrim's belly. *CLANG!* A sound like striking iron rang out. The log bounced off the scales and was blown from Kanata's hands. The impact numbed both his arms. The Valgrim swung its tail. Kanata's body was easily sent flying. He tumbled across the ground and slammed back-first into a fallen tree. His breath stopped. His vision flashed white. (*Ngh...!*) It hurt. His whole body hurt. But—when he looked towards Lilia, she was still collapsed at the base of the tree. Blood flowed from her shoulder, her face twisted in agony. (Not yet.) Kanata stood up. His legs were shaking. He couldn't breathe properly. Even so, he picked up the log once more. "[angry]Come on...!!" His voice was trembling. Even so, the Valgrim's attention was definitely fixed on Kanata. Its six eyes glared at him fiercely. The Valgrim raised its front leg. ──It's over. The moment he thought that. "[angry]Stop right there!!" Reflexively, he swung the log. The Valgrim's front leg and the log collided, and Kanata's body was blown away again. But—that one moment existed. Just two or three seconds. But that was enough. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Lilia had risen to her feet. Bleeding from her left shoulder, she held both hands out before her. Her silver hair spread out as if standing on end, and her amethyst eyes shone with a pale blue light. The gem on her forehead emitted a dazzling radiance. "[angry]──Lumina Thrust!!" A torrent of light unleashed from both hands pierced straight through the Valgrim's chest. The sound of scales shattering and flesh tearing could be heard. The core within the Valgrim's body—the source of the magical beast's life—was being dissolved by the light. The light faded from its six eyes. The massive body slowly tilted, and then—crashed to the ground with a thunderous *DOOOOM*. The battle was over. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Silence returned to the forest. Kanata lay collapsed on the ground, breathing raggedly. His whole body ached. His left wrist throbbed with a dull pain, and beneath the bandages, it felt damp—the old wound from the time of his transfer must have opened again. (I'm alive.) Just as Kanata thought that, footsteps approached. He looked up to see Lilia standing there. Blood still flowed from her left shoulder, and her face was pale. But her amethyst eyes burned with intense anger. "[angry]You're in the way." Lilia's voice was trembling. With anger, or some other emotion. "[angry]Are you trying to die?" Kanata couldn't say anything. (That's right, I was.) He had been trying to die. In the mortal world, that was always the case. He couldn't find any value in his own life. But—now it was different. (That's not it, Lilia.) He wanted to tell her. But the words wouldn't come. Kanata stood up and looked at Lilia's left shoulder. Beneath the torn cloth, an old scar was visible. The wound she'd supposedly received when she was thirteen. From that white, raised mark, fresh blood was now seeping. He grabbed the edge of his own jacket and tore it with sheer force. The sound of ripping cloth echoed through the quiet forest. Without a word, Kanata pressed the cloth against Lilia's left shoulder. The moment he touched her, Lilia's body stiffened. (Warm.) The warmth of Lilia's blood traveled through Kanata's fingertips. *Thump, thump.* He could feel her pulse beating beneath his fingers. Her heart was definitely beating. She was alive. "...That wound." Kanata asked without meeting her eyes. "[gentle]Does it hurt?" Lilia didn't answer. The silence stretched on for a long time. The wind blew, stirring her silver hair. The smell of blood, and the damp scent of the fog. In the distance, he could see the magical essence slowly returning to the atmosphere from the fallen Valgrim's corpse. Lilia didn't brush his hand away. There was no answer. But that alone was enough. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Evening. Inside the herbalist's hut, the air was filled with the scent of dried herbs. Bundles of medicinal plants hung from the walls, and countless small bottles lined the shelves. The madder-red light streaming through the window softly dyed the dusty air. "[gentle]Goodness me, what a reckless child you are." Hanna, a seventy-year-old apothecary, took Kanata's arm with her wrinkled hands. Her white hair was tied back in a single bundle, and her gentle brown eyes checked over the bruises and scrapes all over Kanata's body. "[sad]...Sorry." "[gentle]It's not something to apologize for. You helped someone. That's a fine thing." So saying, Hanna unwound the bandages on Kanata's left wrist. From beneath the wrappings applied right after his transfer, old scars appeared. Countless shallow lines. Ones he had carved himself in the mortal world. And today, when he'd been blown away by the Valgrim, some of those scars had opened up again. Silently, Hanna began to apply fresh bandages. Her touch was as gentle as it had been the first night he came here. "[gentle]Wounds aren't only on the body, you know." Hanna murmured quietly. "[gentle]There are wounds of the heart, too. But you see, having wounds is also proof that you've lived that much." Kanata stared silently at his own left wrist. (Proof that I've lived.) In the mortal world, these scars were the marks of a wish to die. But here, maybe they meant something different. That's when it happened. "[gentle]Hanna, are you in?" A calm voice came from the veranda. Turning around, he saw a petite elderly woman standing there. Her long, pure white hair was braided behind her, and her deep blue eyes were narrowed gently. An old silver ring glinted on her right hand, and she supported herself with a wooden staff held in that same hand. Lilia's grandmother, Celes Vaints. "[gentle]Oh my, Lady Celes. What brings you here?" "[gentle]I've come to summon young Kanata to the village chief's manor. There's something I'd like to discuss." Celes entered with slow steps. The sound of her staff striking the floor echoed rhythmically. And then, her gaze fell upon Kanata's left wrist. As if seeing right through the bandage

日本語

What is Novelia? →

Episode 3

Name: A Love Offered to the Final Guardian: A Suicidal Boy Finds Meaning in Life in Another World
Author: Novelia

What is Novelia?

Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.

Learn more about Novelia →New sign-ups get 5,000pt