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Chapter 97

“Would you be alright with occasionally exchanging letters? The truth is that, apart from you, I haven’t told anyone that I’ve seen the future.”

She was requesting that they become penpals.

The bard gladly accepted the offer.

“If you’re alright with me, then please contact me anytime.”

“You can’t go back on those words.”

“Would you like me to sign a contract with you?”

“What would such a contract entail?”

“How about a condition stating that until the day that the demonic invasion prevents any mail from being delivered, I will make sure to send a reply to every one of your letters?” the bard asked cheerfully.

So that the conversation wouldn’t falter, Yelena also responded in a joking manner.

“It’s a good condition, but we’ll probably end up sick of each other after twenty years of exchanging letters.”

“…did you say twenty years?”

“Yes. Why?”

After recollecting that there was a time difference between her visions of the future and those of the bard’s, Yelena corrected herself.

“Although to be precise, I should have said nineteen years. Since the future I saw was a year after the demons had invaded.”

When the bard remained silent, Yelena curiously called the bard’s name, “Will?”

Immediately the bard shook her head as if waking up from a daydream.

“Ah, excuse me. By the way, shall we call someone to bring over a pen and some paper?”

“…wasn’t that just a joke?”

***

After a reluctant end to their meeting, Yelena returned to the Duke’s castle. Since Will currently lacked a fixed residence, the first letter would have to be sent from her to Yelena.

“Will.”

A man called out to the bard as she left the Baron’s estate.

“Alec.”

“Your meeting with the Duchess, did it go well?”

“Mhm.”

“So why did someone so lofty want to meet with you?” the man asked as he walked over and casually laid his arm across Will’s shoulders.

Will shrugged off the arm in a movement that was just as natural as the man’s, and replied, “She knew about the future that I’ve foreseen.”

“Really? Someone like that has appeared already?”

“Yep. However…”

Will continued with a somewhat mystified expression, “She said that the future I’ve been dreaming of will actually take place twenty years from now.”

“Twenty years?”

The man blinked in surprise. Soon his head was tilted to the side.

“But Will… don’t you only dream about what will happen within three years?”

It was as the man had said. The contents of the bard’s prophetic dreams, whatever they might be, had always come true within three years. Ever since she had had her first prophetic dream when she was only five years old, this was a rule that had never been broken.

“Well, that was the case… until now.”

“Are you saying that this vision is a unique exception? All of a sudden? That’s a bit unbelievable.”

Will recalled the future that she had seen in her prophetic dreams. Of a swarm of demons engulfing the land in their pitchblack shadow. Of a kingdom that was conquered after its gates were opened with surprising ease.

That was all that she had managed to glimpse of the future. Due to this, there weren’t any clues that could be used to determine the period in which her dreams took place.

“I don’t have the answers to that. But the Duchess should know more than I do. Since she even knew that they were called demons.”

“Ugh, my god. Those things actually have a name?”

“Well, they would have to be called something after all. The name was probably made up by people in the future.”

After a moment’s silence, the man said, “…if that’s the case, then what should we do now?”

“What do you mean, ‘what should we do’?”

“The things that we’ve been planning. Do we still do them?”

“Of course, we have to do them. After all, though it’s become a bit more difficult to predict when it will happen, it’s still a fact that the demons will be invading.”

“…what about our marriage?”

“What?”

Will turned to look at the man named Alec.

As his ears flushed red, Alec continued speaking, “You said that since the world might be destroyed within three years, you would marry me. Because you wanted to try getting married at least once before you died.”

“…”

“But if there’s still twenty years left… do-do you want to cancel it?”

Will stared intently into Alec’s eyes. It felt like he would begin crying as soon as she said that their wedding was offCall. Although it might be interesting to see him cry, appeasing him would probably be annoying. After completing these calculations, the bard shook her head.

“No. Let’s not cancel it.”

“…really?”

“Yep. So don’t just stand there like a dog left out in the rain and follow me. Since we’ve still got a lot of places to get to.”

With this, Will began walking away.

Alec, who was practically glowing, quickly ran after her.

“Is that a promise? You’re really going to marry me?”

“Isn’t your only good point the fact that you believe whatever I say. Just trust me.”

“If that’s the case, I’m going to be a good husband to you.”

“Do whatever you like.”

“Although I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay as your husband…”

“…”

“Let’s get married as soon as possible. After all, no one knows if your prophetic dreams will come true in twenty years time, or maybe even some time this very year…”

Alec grabbed on tightly to Will’s hand when he caught up with her. Although the hand that he was squeezing hurt slightly, Will didn’t try to free her hand from his grasp and kept on walking without a word.