Chapter 14 – A new future

“W-what is happening!?”

“Is it true that there’s a monster stampede!?”

“Uwaaaaaah, it’s the end of the world!”

“Hey, where are the monsters!?”

“U-uwah…”

The Ancestral Dragon fell.

I return to town like nothing happened, and I’m greeted by panicking townspeople.

“I-I’m telling you, I saw it! It was too far to see very well but… Someone ran there really fast, and cut down the monster army in a second. Then he turned this really huge dragon into dust…!”

“What’s that, a fantasy novel?”

“It’s too exaggerated even for that.”

“No, I really saw it!”

I guess there are some who actually saw me.

But they don’t really understand what happened, and no one believes them.

(Not that I blame them…)

If you actually calm down and try to explain what just happened, it sounds incomprehensible.

Listening to the townspeople, I get the impression that half the confusion in this town is about me.

I guess it makes sense that a being that can cut down a monster stampede in a second is feared more than the monster stampede itself.

(I’m sure it doesn’t even cross their minds that the perpetrator is walking right past them.)

I think while I walk through town.

“Chrom!”

El pushes through the crowd of people and runs to me.

I guess she came back to town after she saw the monster stampede being suppressed.

Seeing her alive makes me feel a bit relieved…

“Chrom Chrom Chrom!”

“Guha.”

El jumps at me and hugs me.

“I’m so glad you’re alright. Geez, you ran out by yourself! If something happened to you… I… Uuu…!”

“S-sorry. And you’re kind of hurting me.”

“W-what was that power!? You ran really fast like babyuuun, and then zubusha boom and the monsters all fell at the same time. And then…!”

“Yes… I can tell you’re confused.”

How do I explain this?

I thought about ending the calamity, and didn’t think about anything else.

“Actually…”

“Y-yes…”

“I became strong with time magic and I’m in the middle of a new game. I returned to the past to rewrite it as the world’s strongest.”

“Geez, be serious!”

Yes, of course she doesn’t believe it.

This is all too crazy. No wonder people are saying it’s like a fantasy novel.

I smile awkwardly and respond again.

“Well, I worked very hard and became strong. That’s it. I just want to protect people that are important to me.”

That’s the whole reason why I spent a hundred years swinging a sword in battlefields.

No matter how many tears I shed, no matter how much blood I vomited…

Even if I was called a demon, even if I had to become a monster…

“But… Sorry, I’m sure this is creepy. Someone who was called a failure up until yesterday suddenly became that strong…”

What’s in this body isn’t this era’s Chrom. The Chrom El knows and I changed.

The first time around, I did anything to get power.

The power I have now is sullied with blood.

It can’t be helped if she hates me for being creepy, or if she thinks I’m a monster.

I really didn’t want El to see me fighting, but…

“…Don’t say that.”

“Eh?”

For some reason, El looks at me like she’s about to cry.

“You stood against that monster stampede by yourself to protect everyone. I thought it was really scary, but you went out there and did your best. I would never call you creepy… And I don’t want you to do it either.”

“…”

“You’re the Chrom I know. No matter how strong you get, you’re kinder than anyone I know, work harder than anyone else, and no one’s cooler than you… You’re the same Chrom as always.”

“…Am I…”

“Yes!”

El smiles.

She steps forward, and then looks back at me.

“Well then… How about we go home, Chrom?”

She extends her hand to me, just like she did when I was stuck in the darkness hating the world, and she pulled me into the light…

I feel like this small hand is always guiding me.

I look at it for a bit.

“…Yes.”

I take her hand, and we start walking.

“Ah, now that I think about it…”

As we make our way home, I remember something.

I ask a question that’s been on my mind for the last hundred years.

“What were you going to say back when we were on the hill?”

“Hneh!?”

Chrom… I…

I feel like I can finally hear what comes next.

“T-that… Hum… Uu…!”

El’s face is turning red.

“O-one day, we’ll talk about it again!”

“I see.”

One day…

Oh well, that’s fine. There’s no reason to rush. We have a future now.

I peek over at the clock tower

The goddess calendar, tenth day of the fourth month of the year one thousand two hundred, six thirty six in the evening.

Originally, this town would’ve been overrun by monsters by now.

But now, the town is peaceful, and El is smiling.

I reached a future that’s different than last time, but there is still a lot I want to redo.

So…

(Let’s start, from here in the past.)

My best life with both time magic and knowledge of the future, with no regrets.

Surely the future that awaits me now is happy and peaceful.

Looking at El’s smile, I can’t imagine it any other way.