Love Letter From The Future

It took me quite some time to calm Emma down.

Despite minutes of comforting and persuasion, she was still blushing. I could almost see steam rising above her deeply bowed head.

She must have been that embarrassed.

At most, she was just nibbling on some dried mushrooms. In fact, it wasn’t really a scene that warranted such shame.

Yes, that’s what I should have told her.

But I hesitated and couldn’t bring myself to offer that reassurance.

Because the scene from that moment kept replaying in my mind.

The sight of her, on the verge of tears, gnawing on those dried mushrooms.

Her face was like a work of art, embodying a profound gratitude for life.

From her crouched position to minimise physical exertion to the pitiful effort of deliberately softening the dried mushrooms with her saliva before eating them.

It was a sincerity that only someone who hadn’t eaten for a long time could display.

Of course, neither hunger nor poverty is a sin.

They were just unavoidable conditions of life.

Life sometimes functions on such irrational foundations. I had no intention of blaming or shaming her for that.

If someone did feel the urge to do so, they probably had little else to boast about.

But this was merely my personal opinion.

Emma already harboured an inferiority complex about being of common birth.

Though she spoke informally, pretending to be on equal footing with me,her self-deprecation often showed through her demeanour. Especially now, when she felt indebted to me, it was all the more apparent.

And on top of all that, she had now shown me that she couldn’t even manage a proper meal.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It was not surprising that Emma felt ashamed.

Furthermore, I didn’t want to see her like that either.

It wasn’t because I was disappointed or embarrassed.

It was simply because it pained me.

Emma was struggling so much and the fact that I was one of the reasons made it unbearably painful.

So, in front of her, I couldn’t pretend that nothing was wrong.

Because I was probably the main cause of her being like that.

But Emma seemed to misunderstand the emotions revealed on my face.

With a voice still choked with sobs, she apologised.

“I-I’m s-sorry… I must look pathetic…”

“No, not at all!”

I immediately denied her words.

If things were left as they were, it would be dangerous. Emma’s mood might endlessly spiral downwards.

With that sense of urgency, I uncharacteristically managed to continue convincing her without faltering.

“Why would you look pathetic? Rather, I was glad to see your unguarded side… And, well, you looked kinda cute too…”

“…Cute?”

At my offhand remark, her moist emerald eyes turned towards me.

She didn’t look sad or distressed.

Desperate not to miss the opportunity, I nodded vigorously.

“Y-Yes! Of course you were cute. You’re usually meticulous, but at times like this, you seem so clumsy.”

Like that, after anxiously fidgeting for a while, I eventually let out a deep sigh.

Fortunately, Emma’s mood seemed to have lightened a bit.

I decided to speak from the heart.

I gently grasped her delicate hand.

Emma flinched slightly with a small gasp, but she didn’t pull away from my touch.

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

“…But Emma, I really don’t want you to suffer. I hope you eat your meals regularly and don’t overexert yourself. Every time your face turns pale, my heart aches too.”

Emma just blankly gazed at me without saying a word.

She didn’t seem inclined to refute my words.

That was at least a positive sign.

I just hoped this would serve as a turning point for Emma’s daily life to improve, even if just a little. She was so devoted that, if no one stepped in to rein her in, it could become a problem.

Even just a moment ago it was like that.

Emma said she recently went to the Alchemy Guild. From what I heard, she finally sold her potions out of desperation, so she should have had enough funds for a while.

But if she was still chewing on dried mushrooms, there could only be one reason.

She squandered all of it on ingredients.

Unable to hold herself back, all for the sake of research.

At this rate, no matter how much money I give her, there would still be a limit.

Even if the quality of her meals improved, her sleep time might decrease instead.

That must not happen.

“Just as I am precious to you, you are incredibly precious to me too… So please, don’t overexert yourself. From now on, for every hardship or shortfall you face, I’ll be there to make up for them…”

“…S-Stop it.”

But I couldn’t finish my words.

Because Emma, with her face flushed bright red, averted her gaze and said that.

I was sure she was responding well just a moment ago.

I was left speechless and with no choice but to close my mouth.

“You, please stop doing that. Holding my hand and looking at me so seriously like that… I-It will make me misunderstand.”

“…Misunderstand what?”

At my question, asked with a tilted head, Emma cleared her throat and spoke.

Of course, she still couldn’t bring herself to look me in the eyes.

“T-That you mean it…”

“I do mean it.”

“Aah, seriously!”

She finally couldn’t take it anymore and raised her voice.

Her lovely face, now on the verge of tears, turned toward me.

“…This is why I can’t bring myself to stop.”

It was a slightly sulky complaint.

I had no choice but to silently wait for her next words. It was only natural, since I didn’t even know what she was talking about in the first place.

Not long after, Emma let out a deep sigh.

It was a sigh of reflection.

“I-I didn’t intend to spend all my money from the start either… But I kept worrying about you, and then the alchemy materials just caught my eye…”

Each word she hesitantly mumbled felt warm.

That was Emma’s true nature.

A warm and caring woman, like a pebble imbued with warmth.

Just being by her side made me feel at ease.

I couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

My firm resolve to give her a stern talk had long since vanished.

How could I possibly be stern with such a kind woman?

Emma, feeling dejected, glanced at me furtively.

“…Sorry, for making you worry for nothing.”

“No, Emma. Thank you… for thinking of me so much.”

After that, we spent time catching up, pleasantly chatting for the first time in a while.

Of course, I had to somewhat downplay the story of how I faced off against the Evil God’s Underling. It was because I feared her reaction if she found out that I had almost truly died.

She might stay up all night, saying she needs to make better potions.

Or she might just faint, and when awake, only shed tears.

Emma was fragile.

I had to protect her.

Perhaps my judgement wasn’t wrong, as my conversation with Emma proceeded in a rather gentle atmosphere. At certain parts of the story, she even gasped in surprise.

However, there were things that, no matter how much I tried to move past them, wouldn’t just disappear.

For me, that was the farewell with Ned.

I tried to tell the story as calmly as I could, but I couldn’t escape Emma’s worried gaze.

She cautiously asked me,

“…Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am now.”

I swallowed the word that almost followed—‘Maybe.’

I didn’t want to cause her unnecessary worry.

But it was a futile effort, because Emma, as always, was quick to notice.

Yes, just like always.

Emma silently observed my expression, then hesitated before pulling me into an embrace.

For a moment, I thought about resisting.

Even so, it wasn’t long before I found myself, as if entranced, burying my face into Emma’s chest. Her sweet scent softly filled my senses.

Her embrace felt soft and supple.

For now, I decided to simply enjoy that warmth without thinking about anything else.

“You’ve been through a lot, Ian….”

Scenes of my hometown flashed by.

Amidst the burnt and collapsed debris, the villagers wept as they buried the unrecovered corpses. Tombstones stood in countless rows, like newly sprouted saplings.

It was painful and agonising.

Loss engraves a heavy pain onto the heart. It seems like I could forget if I tried, but the cries of that day occasionally resurface, making me suffocate.

Ned’s younger sister, May, asked me.

“…Young Master, where did my brother go?”

It wasn’t a question she should have been asking someone like me, who was wrapped in bandages head to toe.

But she was just a child, perhaps too young to even properly understand death.

I didn’t know what to say.

I simply, simply couldn’t think of anything.

All I could do was place my hand on her head.

A barely squeezed-out excuse followed.

“He went to keep a promise.”

“…Why?”

As if she couldn’t understand, May asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Why did he have to go to keep a promise? Leaving even me behind?”

“Because…”

Because he had to protect you.

Because that was Ned’s only vow.

Burying all those words in my heart, I answered her.

“…Because a great knight never lies.”

I hoped that in her memory, he would remain a great knight.

Now, even when I recall all those memories, tears no longer come.

I simply soothed my aching heart with Emma’s scent and warmth as if, by doing so, all those painful memories were being completely covered up.

Emma held me tightly until I was ready to let go.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

Only after my heart had settled did I slowly lift my head that had been buried in Emma’s embrace. An awkward cough escaped me out of embarrassment.

Even so, she just gave me a gentle smile and silently looked at me.

Though she didn’t say anything, her sentiment was conveyed.

Just that alone gave me a great sense of strength.

After some time had passed, Emma forced out a cheerful voice to lift the subdued mood.

“Oh, by the way, Ian. Do you want to see the ingredients I bought? I found some rare ingredients in the city this time!”

I was certain they’d be things I wouldn’t recognize, regardless of whether I saw them.

But I was grateful for Emma’s thoughtfulness toward me, so I got up with a faint smile.

“You mean the ingredients you traded for your meals, right?”

“T-That’s right! Yeah… But I don’t regret it!”

Emma, with a determined expression, pulled out the sack she had placed on the shelf.

Inside were plenty of softly glowing white moss.

They were things I had never seen before.

At my puzzled gaze, Emma immediately began to explain.

She straightened her shoulders and placed a fist on her chest; that pose was quite cute, making my smile deepen a bit.

“This is a moss that only grows in the Coniferous forests at the farthest northern region! It’s a plant that absorbs the mana of the permafrost as it grows, making it hard to obtain… As you know, one of the Seven Deadly Sins’ curses lingers in the northernmost part of the continent.”

The North and the Seven Deadly Sins.

As I listened to Emma’s story, those two words lingered in my ears for a moment.

Come to think of it, I remember hearing about it during a mythology lecture before.

The reason why the North is surrounded by eternal cold.

Before I could continue my thoughts, Emma, unable to hide her pride, continued speaking.

“Because it’s such a cold place, not only is it hard to harvest, but it’s difficult to even enter the area where it grows. And yet, to find this much… Isn’t it amazing?! So this is the ‘Snow Frost Moss’… Huh?”

That’s when I sensed something was wrong.

Emma’s tone, which had been excited, suddenly dropped. I could only look at her face, not knowing what was going on.

Emma, in a daze, stared at the handful of ‘Snow Frost Moss’ in her hand.

“Th-This isn’t ‘Snow Frost Moss’…?”

“…What? Are they all fake?”

Emma slowly shook her head, then began to examine each of the ‘Snow Frost Moss’ in the bag. And with a crestfallen look, she came to the following conclusion.

“About one-tenth of them are fake. That’s strange…? This merchant has never done something like this before, so why all of a sudden…?”

One-tenth, huh.

It was quite an ambiguous ratio.

Whether it was a premeditated scam or the result of trying to deceive even professionals like Emma by leveraging their trust.

Unnoticed by Emma, I fiddled with the hatchet at my waist.

“…You even spent your food expenses to buy that.”

At my remark, she let out a groan.

She began to break out in a cold sweat, stealing glances at me.

It seemed Emma also firmly believed the false rumours about me.

I’m nothing but a pacifist, but from Emma’s gaze, she seemed to treat me like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.

Forcing a bright smile, she said,

“I-It’s okay! Mushrooms are tasty! Especially these days, white stump mushrooms are common in the forest and there are many dishes you can make with them! Blanched Mushroom, grilled mushrooms, stir-fried mushrooms, mushroom juice, dried mushroom and tangerine salad…”

Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms.

No matter how long I waited, the only food Emma mentioned was mushrooms. Even though she counted over ten different dishes on her fingers, it was still the same.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I let out a deep sigh.

And said just one thing.

“…Where does that guy live?”

I asked the only question that mattered at that moment.

Emma hesitated and avoided my gaze, but I inwardly gave a wry smile.

The ‘North’ and ‘Moss’, huh.

What an odd coincidence.

It seemed that the rest of my conversation with Emma would have to wait until next time.