With every step Endi took across the wheatfield, it felt as if somewhere far away, the stars themselves were pulsing in rhythm with his feet.
Invited to Paulo's estate, he now found himself in the midst of nearly fifty farmers gathered in the vast garden. Even here, on the distant frontier of the Kingdom of Nakatam, the great landowner's mansion radiated authority. Stone walls and rows of olive trees embraced the grounds, a slice of paradise carved into the earth.
Children laughed. The scent of fresh-baked bread drifted through the air. Meat sizzled, its fat hissing and dripping into the fire.
Everything brimmed with the joy of being alive.
"Eat up, Endi!" Paulo's voice boomed across the table.
The old man's white beard swayed as he grinned, his weathered face alight with warmth, as though gazing upon a beloved grandson.
"You saved not just our town, but my own life! Tonight, we feast in your honor!"
"Wow, this all looks amazing! Is all this really for me?"
Before Endi was a mountain of food—golden bread, crisp vegetables, succulent cuts of meat. At the center of the table sat the main dish: a stew made from the very same giant bear he had felled that afternoon.
The farmers drank and laughed, voices overlapping in a tide of merriment.
"Come to think of it," Paulo said between bites, "I never asked your name."
Mouth full of bread, Endi replied simply, "Endi."
"Endi, huh. Don't recall seeing you around. You a drifter? Where from?"
"…That way," Endi said vaguely, pointing toward the southern horizon with a faint smile.
Paulo roared with laughter, clapping him on the back.
"Well, young man, you must be bored in a backwater like this. You should see Valeralc! The royal capital's got everything—never a dull moment! I used to go all the time when I was your age."
"Sounds nice. Maybe I'll check it out someday. Thanks."
But the taste of the food never truly reached him.
The bread's aroma, the freshness of the vegetables, the savory richness of the meat—all of it should have been exquisite. Yet to him, it was flavorless, like chewing ash.
Because he could feel it.
The subtle heaviness in the air around him.
Endi was slight of build, with unruly black hair and sharp black eyes. A worn-out shirt, baggy trousers—he could pass for any ordinary boy.
But he had taken down a bear the size of a house with a single strike.
Their gratitude was real, but beneath the farmers' smiles lurked caution. In their eyes, he was an outsider—one who was dangerous precisely because he was unknown.
Paulo's praise was heartfelt.
But the others kept their distance, their wariness hidden in polite cheer.
Endi's sensitive heart couldn't bear it for long.
"Sorry, I've got something to take care of. I should head out."
He forced a smile as he stood.
"Thanks for everything today. The food was great, and I had a good time. I'll drop by again sometime."
"Leaving so soon? Well, if you've got business, I won't keep you. You're welcome anytime!" Paulo called after him, joined by a chorus of farewells.
"Take care, Endi!"
"See you around!"
With many voices bidding him goodbye, Endi left the estate.
Once he'd crossed the wheatfields and reached the coastal road, where the salty breeze rolled in from the sea, he could finally breathe again.
Yet in his chest, the relief was matched by a hollow loneliness.
"…Guess I'm alone again."
The setting sun dyed the ocean blood-red.
"Not that I'm lonely or anything… ha." His hollow smile faded almost immediately.
For four years, he had wandered without a past.
Living off day jobs. Sleeping in cheap inns, or under the open sky.
No clue who he was, where he had come from, or where he was going.
No one to rely on. No home. No purpose. Just… alone.
"What am I even living for?"
He had tried, time and again, to keep his spirit facing forward.
But his heart was nearing its limit.
If life was going to stay this way, maybe it'd be better if it just… ended.
Or maybe—just maybe—something would happen to change it all.
"Eh… bit early, but I'm tired. Guess I'll just sleep. Wonder what I'll do tomorrow."
He looked up at the clouds gathering overhead, then out to the sea.
That's when he saw it.
A small, battered wooden boat, drifting without a sail.
On its deck, a figure lay motionless, face-down.
"Crap—shipwrecked?!"
Before the thought was finished, his body was already moving.
He sprinted across the sand, splashing into the waves, the cold wind cutting at his ears, the salt air burning his lungs.
And then—faintly, almost swallowed by the wind—he heard a voice.
"Will we meet again?"
His stride faltered for just a heartbeat. Was it his imagination?
He shook his head and kept going.
Right now, saving the life before him was all that mattered.
He leapt onto the boat and hauled himself aboard.
There, lying before him, was a girl with long hair, about his own age, her presence delicate as a dream.
"Hey, stay with me! Are you alright?"
Her eyes slowly opened.
And in that instant, Endi's heart pounded—like a star exploding inside his chest.
Tears welled up and spilled from his eyes, streaming down his cheeks.
He didn't know why he was crying.
But something deep in his soul resonated with her, a pull from a memory he had never lived.
It was as if the voice of the past was calling to him from beyond the waves.
This meeting would carry his lonely journey into the currents of destiny.
At last—the moment of encounter had come.