"First, a toast to you."
Rrakavasha set down the wine jar and drained his bowl in one gulp.
Agate couldn't figure it out for the moment and simply stopped thinking about it, tilting his head back to drink it dry as well.
"Forty-some years in a flash... you're still so young. I really envy long-lived species..."
"Compared to nine years ago, you haven't changed much either. Also, I'm not a long-lived species." Rrakavasha filled the wine again.
"True enough. Even I can preserve my appearance through cosmetic procedures. A divine physician like you surely has far more methods; shame you don't sell them." Agate said with regret.
Rrakavasha didn't respond, raising his bowl in indication.
The bowl rims collided with a crisp sound.
"Satisfying!"
Agate wiped his mouth, showing an exhilarated expression.
"Tell me, Old Rrakavasha, did you see I'm about to die, which is why you're willing to break out this plum blossom wine?"
"..." This time it was Rrakavasha's turn to freeze.
Not receiving an answer, Agate didn't look closely at his expression either, simply taking it as tacit agreement and continuing on his own.
"I didn't come here last year for medication because I felt it wasn't necessary anymore..."
"The bitter fruit left behind from artificial life extension, I don't want to continue enduring it. Having lived past 336 years and eaten bitter fruit for 247 years, I'm exhausted."
"Oh, I should be more precise, 204 years."
After all, after finding Rrakavasha, his medication had given him 43 peaceful years.
A company executive, one of the Ten Stonehearts, so what if it was unlimited glory?
That pain was like ten thousand ants devouring the heart in the dead of night.
"...My apologies. I'm powerless against forces involving the Path of Abundance." Rrakavasha sighed.
"Bah, I didn't come here to listen to you apologize."
Agate downed another mouthful of wine with emotion, as if talking to himself:
"In such a massive corporation, even the Emenator of Preservation was helpless, yet you could treat the symptoms. That's damn impressive, Old man."
"I came today to bid you farewell. Waiting around to die isn't my style. I've already chosen my own ending."
"Being able to drink your most precious fine wine before death, I have no regrets."
"Inside the company, mutual scheming, countless people hoping for your mistakes, filled with cutthroat struggles..."
"I finally understand why you chose to live like a hermit, seeking peace and freedom. No need to constantly guard yourself against backstabbing, no need to worry about the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands under your command. It's truly wonderful."
"I'm really so tired... but flipping through my entire contacts, I couldn't find even one... friend I could speak honestly with. Ha..."
"So before dying, I shamelessly came to find you."
"I thought, even if you do't consider me a friend, you're at least someone who can listen to complaints."
"Listening to a lifelong lonely patient's emotional pain, that counts as a doctor's duty too, wouldn't you say?"
"..." Rrakavasha remained silent, only refilling Agate's wine and quietly listening.
He didn't deny certain things Agate said.
Between friend and patient, Agate was the latter to him, an equal relationship of mutual benefit.
He gave Agate medication to suppress suffering; he used his position's convenience to handle important matters. That was all, no further personal exchanges.
But at this moment, Agate was a friend.
Friendship between men often requires no particular foundation.
"My old man and old lady died early, beaten to death by..."
"To feed me, barely past eleven years old, they stole, they robbed, and ultimately provoked the wrong people..."
"That world had long lost order. The most violent made the rules."
"I killed those people to avenge my parents. To leave no future trouble, I burned everything in one fire, didn't even spare children younger than me..."
"I should have died too, but a blind woman saved me."
"When the Corporation's people arrived, I signed the indenture contract without hesitation. From that point on, I clawed my way upward with everything I had."
"Because I knew only by climbing to higher echelons could I control my own fate."
"In truth, I could say I achieved it. But looking back at the past now, I find I've left behind only devastation, even wretchedness. Heh..."
"You probably think I'm being pretentious, but I still have to say, from the moment that blind woman who saved me died before my eyes, the real me should have died then too."
"I didn't get to tell her I liked her, loved her, wanted to marry her..."
"I promised her... I promised her..."
"I'd take her across the galaxy. Before curing her eyes, I'd become her eyes, showing her countless beautiful sights."
"But I broke my promise. Hahaha!!"
"The story's cliché, right? But this is my life. I'm a success and also a complete and utter failure."
"In old age, desperately seeking ways to extend life, it was just unwillingness to accept dying as such a failure."
"...I see it clearly now, Rrakavasha."
"I've donated all my personal wealth to worlds in turmoil like my homeland. Now I can go find her without attachments."
"Only... so many years have passed. She left long ago and won't be waiting for me..."
Rrakavasha lowered his eyes, offering no commentary. He also felt unqualified to judge.
The only thing he could empathize with was childhood suffering and hardship.
"...At fate's crossroads, I was slightly more fortunate than you."
"Tell me about it?"
"When I was about to die in a pile of rotting corpses, my teacher picked me up. Unlike the blind woman you mentioned, she's a very accomplished Biology researcher."
"The things you ship out every year, they're for your teacher?"
"Yes."
"Then you really were more fortunate. At least you didn't leave behind regrets." Agate, whether crying or laughing, was unclear, tipped his head back ungracefully to pour wine down his throat.
Rrakavasha's lips moved slightly, wanting to say something, but ultimately only slowly closed his eyes.
Compared to Agate's circumstances, could his inability to dissuade Ruan Mei really count as regret?
But why?
His heart suddenly ached terribly, as if someone had thrust a bare hand through his chest cavity, tightly gripping his beating heart.
Extremely blurry memory fragments flashed through his mind, painfully difficult to endure.
Couldn't see clearly... couldn't see any of it clearly.
"Agate."
"Mm?"
"Like you, I've also chosen my own ending."
"Could it be you..."
"Right. My lifespan approaches its end. Only a few days remain. Actually, this is the real reason I switched to plum blossom wine to entertain you."
Agate stared blankly at Rrakavasha's calm expression for quite some time before laughing voicelessly.
"Stingy old bastard. Only willing to bring out the precious wine you treasure like life itself when you're about to die."
"You're the same, only remembering to do good deeds when dying, donating your entire fortune."
"Hahaha, indeed."
Agate first laughed loudly, then gradually restrained himself and asked seriously: "So, how many days remain?"
"The day of Dahan."
"Hey, I'm one day earlier than you. But this way, neither of us can see the other off."
"Saying farewell today, no regrets."
"True. But Rrakavasha, why don't you cling to this world anymore? Do you truly have no regrets left behind?"
"Precisely because there are no regrets, I don't cling to life."
"Is this what it means to see through life and death as a physician... forget it. Drain this bowl! My friend!"
Life, whether long or short, always passes in a rush. Many people never get the chance to say goodbye.
But at least these two old men, whose friendship lasted only half a day, could bid each other an eternal farewell tonight.