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A few days have passed since then.
I was making my way toward the capital, hopping from one shared horse-drawn carriage to the next.
To be honest, I still can’t believe it.
Five years.
I’d only intended to stay for two weeks.
See the ocean.
Soak in a hot spring.
Have a meal.
Go on a little adventure.
That’s all I planned to do before heading home.
And yet.
Before I knew it, five years had passed.
At first, I thought it was someone’s cruel joke.
But it wasn’t.
The dates on the newspapers.
The changes in the town.
The stories I heard along the way.
Everything pointed to the same thing.
Five years.
Five years I hadn’t lived through had passed.
“……”
I looked out the carriage window.
The familiar highway.
Or so I thought.
But there were more buildings I didn’t recognize.
Inns that weren’t there before.
Newly built watchtowers.
A well-maintained highway.
Just five years.
That’s what I’d thought.
But in reality, it was different.
The world had definitely moved forward.
Leaving only me behind.
“We’ll be at the capital soon!”
The coachman’s voice rang out.
The passengers begin to stand up.
I lift my head as well.
And then.
I see it in the distance.
A massive city wall.
The royal capital.
“…I’m back.”
I mutter without thinking.
I should be happy.
But the anxiety in my chest was stronger.
I wonder how everyone is doing.
Leona.
Serena.
What about Lilia?
What about Mia?
And what about Emma?
Five years.
Five years I knew nothing about.
I wonder what happened.
The carriage passed through the gate.
I set foot in the royal capital—a place I should have been familiar with.
But.
“…What is this?”
I stopped in my tracks without thinking.
There were so many people.
There were more buildings, too.
It’s much livelier than before.
New shops line the streets.
There’s a square I’ve never seen before.
Even though it’s the capital.
This isn’t the capital I know.
It felt like a completely different city.
“It really has been five years…”
I realize it all over again.
Time I hadn’t experienced had definitely passed.
I walked through the city for a while.
I followed a familiar path.
And then.
My feet naturally led me there.
Wings of Dawn.
The guild we founded.
The place the five of us started together.
I’m sure everyone’s there.
That’s what I thought.
“If I turn here…”
I passed through a familiar alley.
It should have been visible ahead.
Our guild.
But.
“…Huh?”
My feet stopped.
The building standing there.
It wasn’t the Wings of Dawn I knew.
The sign was faded.
The walls were cracked.
Several window panes were broken.
The entrance door was covered in scratches.
There was no trace left of the guild that had once been among the best in the capital.
Even so.
The sign was still there.
Faded as it was.
It was definitely written there.
“Wings of Dawn”
“Why…”
I couldn’t find the words.
We had been successful.
We’d even become famous in the capital.
We had a constant stream of requests.
The number of new recruits was growing.
The future should have been bright.
And yet.
How did it come to this?
“What happened…?”
I stood frozen in front of the building.
No one was there.
There wasn’t even a hint of life.
Only the wind was blowing.
Where should I go?
Who should I ask?
Where are Leona and the others?
Where’s Emma?
Where is everyone?
My mind was a complete mess.
That was when it happened.
From behind me.
I heard a voice that was unbelievably familiar.
“…Alt-san?”
My heart leapt.
I slowly turned around.
There stood—
a woman who looked a little more mature.
Chestnut-brown hair.
A familiar face.
There’s no way I could forget her.
“Emma…?”
Emma froze in her tracks.
The documents she was holding slipped from her hands.
Rustle.
The papers scattered across the ground.
Even so, she didn’t move.
She just—
As if seeing something unbelievable.
She stared at me.
“It’s been a while.”
Saying that, I raised my hand.
But.
Emma didn’t respond.
She was just trembling.
“Emma?”
I called out to her.
Then.
Emma’s lips trembled.
“…Is it really you?”
Her voice was hoarse.
“Huh?”
“Are you really… Alt san…?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I am.”
At that moment.
Tears began to fall from Emma’s eyes.
One by one.
One drop.
Then another.
As if everything she’d been holding back for five years was finally spilling out.
“You’re back…”
Her voice was tiny.
The next moment.
“Alt-san!”
Emma took off running.
Before I could say a word, she threw herself right into my arms.
“Whoa!?”
I stumbled involuntarily.
Emma clung tightly to my shirt, refusing to let go.
Her shoulders were shaking.
It didn’t take me long to realize she was crying.
“E-Emma?”
There was no reply.
Instead, her grip on my shirt tightened even more.
It was as if she thought I’d vanish the moment she let go.
“Is it really…?”
I heard her trembling voice.
“Is it really you, Alt san…?”
“I told you it is.”
“No…”
Emma shook her head.
Then, timidly, she reached out toward my cheek.
As if to confirm that I wasn’t a ghost or something.
She touched me gently.
At that moment.
Tears welled up in Emma’s eyes again.
“You’re warm…”
“Well, that’s because I’m alive.”
“You really came back…”
Those words made my heart ache a little.
Five years.
For me, it felt like a blink of an eye.
But for Emma and the others, it was different.
It really had been five years.
“Emma.”
“……”
“Just try to calm down for now.”
“I can’t.”
Her answer was immediate.
I couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
It felt like she’d gone back to being the Emma of the past, just a little bit.
“Well, I guess that makes sense.”
“It’s been five years…”
Emma wiped away her tears.
“I waited five whole years…”
I couldn’t say anything in response to those words.
After a while.
Emma finally took a deep breath.
Then she composed her expression just a little.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, crying in front of the guild—I’m unworthy of being the deputy guildmaster.”
“You’re still as serious as ever.”
“Whose fault do you think this is?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t apologize.”
Emma said that and shook her head.
Then she looked up at the faded guild building.
I followed her gaze.
The tattered Wings of Dawn.
It looked like a completely different place from five years ago.
“What happened?”
I muttered without thinking.
“What about Leona and the others?”
At that moment.
Emma’s expression clouded slightly.
“……”
“Emma?”
Silence lingered for a while.
Eventually, Emma let out a small sigh.
“About that…”
She paused, as if choosing her words carefully.
“We can’t talk about it here.”
“Huh?”
“It’ll take a while.”
Saying that, Emma gave a wry smile.
But there was a hint of sadness in that smile.
“Besides,”
Emma turned her gaze toward the guild’s door.
“It’s not the kind of thing we can talk about standing here.”
“…I see.”
“Yes.”
Emma nodded.
Then she slowly began walking toward the weathered door.
“Let’s go inside.”
A creaking sound echoed through the air.
The moment I heard that sound,
I felt, just for a moment,
the weight of those five years.
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