Whispering Verse

The tip of the old man's pen touched the paper of the relic:

"When he said goodbye to me, it was a beautiful spring evening, which was also the third year after we first met. The sunset that evening was really brilliant, and he held my hand and walked in the village. , and invited me to the top of the bell tower to tell me something very important. It’s really nostalgic. After so many years, I still remember the temperature of his palms that day, and we walked through the steps of the bell tower together. The highest floor of the clock tower that exists in my hometown embraces me, looking out the window at the sunset in the distance."

The environment of the bell tower itself has not changed at all, but a bright orange-red sunlight is shining in from the windows on all sides. The sunlight was more dazzling than the bonfire. Both Shade and Miss Higgins subconsciously squinted their eyes, and then smiled to welcome the warm sunshine.

They all stood up, walked to the window and looked outside. Under the bright sunset, there is a small and fertile village located in the valley basin. Smoke rises from the kitchen, and the barking of dogs comes from the corner of the village. The villagers carrying farm tools return home, and the children happily walk on the path in the village. Running, this is a very warm scene.

The sound of footsteps came from the stairs. Shade and Miss Higgins turned to look, and then they saw a young girl holding each other's hands and a young man with a sword hanging from his waist walking up together.

Their faces were both flushed by the sunset, and even their hair and clothes were blushing.

They hugged each other and came to the window facing the west, watching the sunset together. Suddenly the young man hugged the young girl from behind, and the latter gave his lover a gentle push. His ruddy ears even turned translucent under the bright sunset.

"It's so romantic. It would be better if it were two girls."

Shade heard Miss Higgins' muttering, and then heard the words of the two young people in Mrs. Miles' memory:

"Sarah, I am leaving my hometown. No, please listen to me. I want to go to the battlefield and achieve merit, and then come back with honor to marry you."

The blond young man who spoke hugged his lover tightly, and the plain-looking but gentle Miss Sarah Miles pursed her lips and asked softly:

"Marry me?"

"Yes, my knighthood comes from my father, and everything I have is given by my father. Now, I don't have the ability to make you my wife, please wait for me, this war does not involve witches It will be over soon. In a year at most, I will come back, and I will come back with military merit and a lord's reward, and make you my wife."

After saying that, he also joked:

"Maybe when I come back, you will have awakened as a witch and abandoned me."

"No, Richard, please don't say that. I will always be waiting for you, waiting for you to come back."

The young girl turned around, threw her arms around her lover's neck and hugged him again.

Shade saw Miss Higgins shaking her head because of Mrs. Miles's young words. She did not believe that anyone could be immune to the effects of the witch's curse. The fact is that Mrs. Miles did not become a witch.

"I kept my promise and waited for him to come back."

The young man and woman hugging each other remained silent for a long time, as if they wanted to melt themselves into the sunset of this evening and become an eternal landscape oil painting. The old man beside the bonfire spoke in a slow voice. Contrary to Shade and Miss Higgins watching this scene, her back was turned to the embracing man and woman. She did not need to look back. This scene had already stayed in her heart forever:

"I waited and waited, and waited, until the wrinkles crept onto my cheeks, and my hair turned frosty white. I waited until the village fell after a plague, until the lord was murdered by his son, and then a new lord came to power. I kept waiting. When he comes back, I believe he will come back."

Shade's sigh concluded the old man's words. This memory is not over yet. The young man and woman embracing each other made their own promises:

"I will always wait for you to come back. You have to hurry up, otherwise I will get old."

"Yes, next spring, it will still be the same season. Please be here, at the highest point, and be the first to wait for me to bring my horse back."

"I have a garland of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ready for you. I'm here for you."

Two young hearts are close to each other, eyes are staring at each other, and noses are touching. They kissed each other against the background of the setting sun, making Miss Higgins shake her head again:

"I don't like this kind of story that I already know has a tragic ending. Even if the content in the middle of the story is interesting and touching, I don't like it at all. Madam, this tower, oh, I mean the one in your hometown in your memory. Does the bell tower still exist?”

The old man looked at the words he had written and shook his head gently:

"Every spring, when the sun is at its best, I go to the bell tower to wait for him. I waited for 12 years, but only waited until the plague came and all the survivors in the village left. I had to move with my family. He left, but he would return to his hometown again every spring and wait for a day on the tower. In the 23rd year after he left, the unmaintained bell tower also collapsed after a heavy rain in the summer. So I went there every year Waiting for him on the ruins with a garland of flowers. Year after year, watching the sun rise and set, watching the wind, frost, rain and snow."

The young witch suddenly thought of what happened before:

"Garland? You mean, the garland that His Majesty did not allow you to take with you when we set off?"

After that, he explained to Shade:

"In a place like Black Mist Camp, Your Majesty expects that even the most beautiful flowers will wither immediately."

Shade nodded, and then became concerned about the follow-up of the story:

"Madam, when did you make up your mind to come to the dangerous area we are in now?"

"I have been waiting for him all my life. I thought there was no hope anymore. Unexpectedly, in the spring of about 7 years ago, when I was waiting again on the ruins of the bell tower in my hometown, I failed to wait for him. Instead, I waited for a man riding a horse. The girl with the blue chocobo. She told me that my mother’s brother’s little daughter had just established a country on the edge of the desert on the other side of the western continent. She used to have many enemies and didn’t dare to come to us, but now she has finally defeated them all. The enemy is going to take me away to enjoy my life."

"I'm so envious. Ahem, I mean, you are so lucky."

Miss Higgins said, Shade looked at the young man and woman who were still kissing, but in fact their memories had been frozen:

"That was seven years ago?"

The old man sighed amidst the crackle of the bonfire:

"My cousin and I were not familiar with each other at first, and for so many years, I have been expecting him to come back as promised, so I didn't ask her to help me. Later, I still returned to my hometown every spring, and my cousin also waited with me. , she also advised me that if I can't wait, I can get him back by myself. She helped me try divination and other methods, but they failed. In the past two years, my health has been in decline. Even she couldn't let me, an ordinary person, live a few more years, so I came up with the plan to come here."

Shade and Miss Higgins both had the same expressions. It seemed that the young witch didn't know that there was such a story:

"Indeed, if even His Majesty's divination cannot find Mr. Richard Knight Jackman, we can only turn to this place. The memory ends here. Has that gentleman come back?"

She asked curiously, and Shade also looked around, but did not see any souls appearing here, only the memory scenes like solidified landscape oil paintings that had not dissipated for a long time.

He thought for a while and came up with an idea:

"Mrs. Myers, please stop sitting. Please stand up. Yes, please say that name again. Say it carefully."

Miss Higgins hurried over and helped the old man up. Mrs. Miles stood up by the bonfire and carefully arranged her clothes:

"Richard Knight Jackman."

She tried to shout. Miss Higgins quickly turned her head to look at the stairs, but there was still no one there. However, Shade saw that the fingers of the young man who was kissing his lover moved.

"Richard Knight Jackman."

The old man shouted again, and then as if he realized something, he also looked at the young man in his memory by the clock tower window under the setting sun.

The young girl in his arms had disappeared. After the second call, his raised arms had been lowered, and he stood facing the sunset with his back to the three people behind him.

Miss Higgins looked like she was about to explode with excitement, not only because she had seen such a good story, but also because this damn journey had finally come to an end. Even Shade smiled at this. He had just experienced the most painful moment since coming into this world. Seeing this warm story at this moment, he naturally felt joy in his heart.

"Richard Knight Jackman."

The third time Mrs. Miles called out the name, she asked Miss Higgins to let her go, and then took a step forward in disbelief. And the figure with his back to the three people slowly turned around and looked at her.

The two pairs of eyes stared at each other, still the same young blond youth under the bright spring sunset. However, her hair was already full of white, and her face was covered with wrinkles. But nothing seemed to have changed much. The young man turned around and looked at her in shock, and immediately recognized who it was:

"Sarah!"

"Richard!"

The two opened their arms and hugged each other tightly. Not only Mrs. Miles was crying, but young Richard was also crying:

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm late, I'm late."

He is no longer the person who existed in the memory revealed by the relic. Both Shade and Miss Higgins can recognize that he is really the soul that is being searched for.

"but."

Shade twitched his nose:

"Why does it smell like sulfur?"

PS: Picture of this chapter "Cut Scene - Village at Dusk"