The Prince hadn’t understood why Aryn had asked for such a thing on the day the war ended. But as they trekked further into the demon lands, and as the prince learned snippets of Aryn’s prior situation. Well, to be honest, he still couldn’t entirely understand.

Mostly the Prince only felt pity, in his mind this boy is a rabbit holding the touch of death. To punish him seemed like telling a songbird not to sing. His greatest crime was completing his task, and his greatest betrayal to humanity was the very same.

The society they found in Kez-Logar was beyond what anyone but Aryn had expected. Tumbled baskets filled with rotting fruit near a shoddy straw doll brought an entirely different level of reality to the generals and troops who attended this ‘victory parade’. This reality is what the victory was bought with.

What had they expected to find though? Cannibal’s living naked in caves?

It’s never that black and white. If it were, how would the world be colorful?

Despite the victory in their hearts no one in the massive group said a word while passing through the ‘city’ surrounding the demon lord’s castle. Even the jubilation they felt when finding the throne empty as expected, was a silent one at most.

The war was over but a few of them felt as though they had lost something in winning it this way. A flick of a wrist had collapsed a society that spanned eons longer than history itself. A strong wind had blown away living history.

Wordlessly venturing back in the direction they had come, many people wondered if they could truly explain what they were feeling to those who hadn’t seen these hollow ancient streets. To the ones still celebrating in the capital and around the world, none of them would be able comprehend the pit in these soldiers’ hearts if they were told of it.

But should they? It’s hard to say, many of these people have lost families, lovers, friends. Is this deserved retribution any less than what was wreaked?

It’s hard to say. But, what’s done is done. Aryn’s conscious was clear.

Or so he had expected, but it’s never that black and white.

“Armory bearer, I’ve decided your punishment.” The prince quietly announces to the silent couple once the final soldier passes through the vacant gateway out of the demon capital behind them. “Until your dying breath, I task you with telling humanities story, in detail, like you did with the H— Noel and I. Tell about this ‘victory’ and the deeper meanings behind it.”

“If it will help me atone for my failures then…”

“Let me make one thing clear, in my eyes you have committed no failures in the process of your duties. Your story indicates that you chose perhaps the only path that would allow for this victorious outcome. You were tasked with surviving, and you did. You were tasked with presenting the hero the sword, and you did. You were able to do what would have taken thousands of years, and hundreds, or even thousands, of people, before your eighteenth birthday. How is it that you failed exactly? If it weren’t for your actions who’s to say if the sword would have ever arrived?”

“The prince is right! And if you think about it, the only reason I’m standing here today is because I met you. So, will you count my life as your failure as well? Afterall, I wouldn’t even be the hero if we hadn’t met.”

Noel’s words, in particular, were difficult for Aryn to dispute. And in more ways than just one. 

“Indeed, your deeds are ones that have already become that of legend. Apart from the ones regarding the hero there are very few tales that don’t have your shadow in them. For that reason, disregarding your earlier request, I will personally plead with my father to award you with the highest civilian-achievement rank possible. I’ll personally see to it so that you never have a need for the rest of your life.” Punctuating his words with a deep bow the Prince rejoins with an awaiting carriage that briskly take off as soon as he steps up.

“So he says, and then doesn’t even bother to offer us a ride?” Noel gripes after the carriage was a safe enough distance away, and the witnessing soldiers had dispersed back towards their respective squad encampments. “I suppose he must be in a hurry to get his reward.”

“…” He had a hundred questions, and a thousand things to say, but Aryn couldn’t seem to breathe a word.

“Are you so struck by my mature beauty that you are speechless?” Queries Noel with a giggle at the sight of Aryn’s flustered face. “Wait… I’m actually older than you. Explain to me how that make sense again?”

“You were a child less than a month ago in my timeline. If we are basing my age off that, then I might have turned seventeen sometime this month. If we are basing my age on the timeline outside, then I’m probably at least seven thousand years old. So, you best treat me like an elder from now on.”

Noel had an uncertain expression on her face for a few moments as a couple thoughts compounded about Aryn’s various explanations about life inside the hero’s armory.

“Could you see from inside there?”

That’s what she picked up on? Honestly this wasn’t the question Aryn anticipated, and Noel’s cautious expression as she awaited his response was another thing he hadn’t expected. “Vision is underrated.”

“Don’t laugh! What did you see?!” Noel cries as a sputter of laughter comes from Aryn’s throat.

“I didn’t, I couldn’t see anything.”

Noel didn’t seem entirely convinced but she wasn’t quick to pursue it for some reason. She appeared to have other things on her mind as well, but like Aryn, she wasn’t able to broach it with ease.

As the two quietly continued down the trail, they both shared similar thought patterns. The question on their minds is ‘what happens now’?

The demons had their world destroyed, but the same could be said for them two.

“I…” Noel hesitantly began before rethinking her approach. “If you don’t know where to go, I have a house in the capital. You could live t… we could live together, again, if you want.”

“Just like old times?”

“Just like old times.”