Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051601476634937
“…Huh?”
I froze, staring at the newspaper pinned to the wall.
I blinked once.
I thought I must have seen it wrong.
I looked again.
But the result was the same.
The date printed there was five years in the future from what I knew.
“No, no, no…”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
This is weird.
This is definitely weird.
I left the capital two weeks ago.
I saw the ocean.
I soaked in a hot spring.
I ate some food.
I explored a dungeon.
That’s all.
There’s no way five years have passed.
“Sir?”
The innkeeper looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I hurriedly pointed at the newspaper.
“Is this today’s newspaper?”
“Yes, it’s today’s newspaper.”
The innkeeper tilted his head even further.
“Really?”
“It’s true.”
“It’s not a mistake or anything?”
“If the newspaper company made a mistake like that, they’d go out of business.”
That makes sense.
But I can’t accept it.
My mind refuses to comprehend it.
I looked at the newspaper again.
Five years from now.
No matter how many times I looked, it said “five years from now.”
“……”
My heart was making a strange sound.
A cold sweat ran down my back.
The shopkeeper looked at me with concern, but I had no time for that right now.
I bolted out of the inn.
I walked through the town at dusk.
No, I walked while scanning my surroundings.
Scenery I’d never even noticed before.
But looking at them anew, everything felt off.
“Was there a shop like that…?”
In the corner of the square.
A stone shop that looked like it had been newly built.
On the opposite side was an inn I didn’t recognize.
There were more streetlights, too.
The cobblestones were clean as well.
This wasn’t the kind of change that happens in about two weeks.
It was a change on the scale of several years.
And a pretty significant one at that.
“No way…”
A bad feeling began to grow inside me.
It was just then.
My eyes fell on the bulletin board in the square.
Amidst the lineup of quests for adventurers, there was a single, weathered piece of paper.
I glanced at it casually.
And then.
My feet stopped.
“…What is this?”
What was drawn there was…
Me.
[Special Search Request]
Alt Rain
Age 19 at the time of disappearance
Distinguishing Features
Black hair
Blue eyes
Former Guild Master of “Wings of Dawn”
Five years have passed since his disappearance
Search still ongoing
“……”
I was speechless.
I looked at the sketch.
There was no mistake.
It was me.
I was drawn a little younger, but it was definitely me.
My hands were shaking.
I shifted my gaze further down.
Requesters
Leona Valhart
Serena Fior
Lilia Arkwright
Mia Silva
Familiar names.
The names of my companions.
The five of us who founded the guild together.
“Why…?”
The words slipped out before I knew it.
Why is something like this here?
Why am I the one being sought?
Why for five whole years?
Just then.
A pair of adventurers passing by stopped to look at the bulletin board.
“Is this still up?”
“Well, yeah.”
“It’s been five years, right?”
“They’re really persistent, aren’t they?”
The two shared a wry smile.
I couldn’t help but speak up.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“Is this person really that famous?”
The two looked surprised.
“You don’t know him?”
“We’re just passing through.”
When I answered that, one of the adventurers laughed in exasperation.
“There’s not a single person in the kingdom who doesn’t know him.”
“He’s the legendary guild master who vanished five years ago.”
“Legendary?”
“Alt Rain, the founder of Wings of Dawn.”
That was me.
“He went missing after that.”
“Four of the executives are still looking for him.”
“Even now?”
“Yeah.”
The adventurers nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Actually, things are even more serious now.”
“Serious?”
“Don’t you know?”
The two exchanged glances.
Then they whispered.
“Now, they’re all guild masters.”
“…Huh?”
“Each of them leads one of the largest guilds in the capital.”
For a moment, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Leona and the others.
Guild Masters?
Each of them?
“What happened to Wings of Dawn?”
I blurted out the question without thinking.
But the two of them tilted their heads in confusion.
“I don’t know.”
“It was already gone by the time we became adventurers.”
“……”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Gone?
Wings of Dawn?
Our guild?
“Well, apparently it was all created just to search for Alt.”
“That’s just a rumor, though.”
With that, the two of them walked away.
I was left standing there alone.
My mind went completely blank.
The newspaper.
The changes in town.
The search request.
Testimonies from adventurers.
Everything points to the same answer.
Five years.
It’s really been five years.
“No way…”
A dry laugh escapes me.
To me, it felt like
just two weeks.
I saw the ocean.
I soaked in a hot spring.
I ate some meals.
I went on a little adventure.
I explored a dungeon.
That’s all.
Even though that was all I did.
Five years.
Five years?
“Leona…”
Her name slipped out before I knew it.
Leona.
Serena.
Lilia.
Mia.
And Emma.
Their faces flashed before my eyes.
If it really has been five years…
How did they feel while they waited?
I told them I’d be back in a month.
I even left a note behind.
But I never came back.
One year.
Two years.
Three years.
Four years.
And five years.
Were they waiting for me?
Were they looking for me?
“This is bad…”
My heart was pounding.
The joy of the journey.
The shock of those five years.
It all vanished.
Right now, there’s only one thing on my mind.
I have to go back.
I have to explain.
I have to see them.
“I’m going back.”
I grabbed my bag.
And I started running.
Toward the capital.
Toward my friends.
Toward the friends I’d kept waiting for five whole years.
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