Love Letter From The Future

The feeling of powerlessness is a miserable emotion.

Ceria had felt this truth since her childhood. It began when her mother was expelled from the lord’s castle simply for being of low birth when she was just six years old.

The Yuridina Clan valued noble bloodlines above all. There was no way a mere six-year-old child could do anything about it. Not to mention that she was also of low birth.

Her mother’s cries, her father’s cold expression, and her half-sister watching indifferently.

All her memories began from that point, as if it were a nightmare that was nailed to her life like a curse. After that day, Ceria vowed never to be powerless again.

She believed that only then could she overcome the memories of that day.

Her father’s eyes, cold as the frost of dawn, and the condescending gaze of her half-sister still followed her like a painting.

When she thought back to that time, Ceria felt breathless. Every time she had a nightmare, she would wake up gasping for air.

So she swung her sword like a madwoman. Yet, she could not defeat her half-sister. Her life was a history of defeat.

The sun of Yuridina, her sister had to win by any means necessary, and the benchmark for comparison was always her, the lowborn.

Now, there was no opportunity left. Once her half-sister stepped into the world, Ceria would never be able to stand on the same stage again. The gap between noble blood and common birth was unbearably vast in the world.

So she was impatient. To avoid feeling powerless, to not relive the miseries of that day, she trained relentlessly.

But is this the result?

Ceria gasped for breath. She managed to take a step, but her ankle throbbed pain, making it difficult to move properly. The heat from her sprain had long since engulfed her nerves like a fireball.

Cold sweat streamed down her forehead. Yet, Ceria gritted her teeth and pushed her feet forward. At times, her sword served as a staff.

That sword, the path of kendo she had dedicated her life to, felt powerless.

Someone else must be fighting in her place. With just the aura she felt, it could have been several monsters or even more than ten.

Even if they were low-level monsters, facing ten alone was a grueling task. What if they weren’t low-level monsters?

The mere thought of that possibility made Ceria’s heart swell with guilt.

As she stumbled, she tripped over a tree root. Dirt and grass clung to her body.

She felt like crying. She had sworn never to cry again since that day.

Until now, no one had been by her side. From birth until now, the whole time.

Her mother, who had been her ally, was already taken away. The family seemed to want to erase even the trace of her mother’s existence, as they wouldn’t even inform her of her whereabouts.

She had grown up in contempt. Even after being recognized for her skills with a sword, she had kept people at a distance.

Because she could not trust them. Everyone in her family had either watched her, bullied her, or enjoyed subtly slandering her. Suddenly, those same people bowed their heads before her as if she were a master.

It was maddening. That’s why she couldn’t build any relationships.

At least until recently. Now, for the first time, there was someone she could call a “friend.”

“Friends don’t say such things to each other.”

Senior Ian, who said that, seemed sincere.

How could that be?

Ceria knew. During her first duel with Ian, he had displayed terrifying skill, but after that, he was different.

He was too sharp to be truly mid-tier and still lacked basic skills and magic to reach the higher tiers.

In the days they had spent together, Ceria had observed this “Ian Fercurus.” He also wasn’t the type to overestimate his skills and act recklessly.

Yet, on a path where he could have lost his life, he stood in for her. It was something Ceria could simply not comprehend.

Wasn’t that her responsibility? Therefore, it was her duty to take responsibility. If someone had to die, it should have been her, and he had to survive.

Yet, Ian shattered those clear propositions in an instant. Ceria couldn’t understand Ian, but she sensed something vague.

‘A friend’ might be such a relationship, she thought, as she crawled on the ground.

There was a Ceria who wished for Senior Ian not to die.

To that end, she thought it wouldn’t matter if her ankle was broken; she had to somehow inform Professor Derek.

So she scraped her body on the ground, crawled, and despite stumbling, pushed herself up.

How long had it been? She felt a presence in front of her. After running and rolling with all her might, her mind was hazy.

Perhaps because of this, it was her opponent who first sensed her presence. She heard muttering and soon three figures appeared before her.

Professor Derek, with his rugged frame, and the black-haired girl who had been giggling next to him. Come to think of it, she seemed to be a friend of Senior Ian.

She couldn’t remember the name of another second-year student who appeared to be with her.

Just as Ceria swatted away Professor Derek’s hand as he approached her in surprise, she spoke.

“Monsters…”

Professor Derek’s bewildered gaze turned to her. The other two did the same.

However, it did not take long for the three of them to freeze in place.

“Monsters… attacked… Senior Ian… danger…”

Gasping for breath, Ceria looked at Professor Derek with earnest longing. Without saying a word, Professor Derek turned his gaze toward the direction she had come from.

And left a single remark.

“… Well done.”

At that moment, Professor Derek took off without leaving a trace. The black-haired girl followed close behind. Left alone, Ceria stomped her feet in agitation and then turned to run off somewhere.

Then sounds of students murmuring could be heard from the direction she had run towards. They began grabbing their weapons and rushing somewhere. It seemed they were going to join in.

Please, let them be alive.

With that plea, Ceria gasped for breath.

Her head spun without oxygen circulating in her brain. So she did not realize.

That this was the first prayer she had ever offered for someone else.

The lonely girl had, without realizing, allowed someone to be by her side.

Two wolves moved in a zigzag pattern, rushing in. It seemed to be the result of some coordination. They didn’t tangle their strides.

Her vision was dizzying. However, eventually, the moment they charged at me was fixed.

At the very end, there was a brief pause in the wolves’ rush as if to receive the full momentum of artillery power.

I held my breath and steadied my gaze.

I had to find the ‘sign.’ They were just monsters. They would be unskilled in hiding their muscles and intentions compared to humans. Especially since all the senses in my body were sharper than ever.

Come, at that moment a virtual trajectory drew itself before my eyes.

It was pure instinct. I immediately twisted my body and slipped through the narrow openings between that trajectory. In the frozen moment, my sword spun swiftly. My hand gripped the hilt of the sword backward.

With a sharp tearing sound that split the air, two gray projectiles whizzed past me perilously. The large bodies shot at high speed carried terrifying physical force. Had I not dodged, I would have received serious injuries.

I brought my sword down, prepared ahead of time. The wolf, unable to maintain its momentum, crashed to the ground with my sword embedded vertically in its back.

The sword, imbued with magic, tore into its muscles and roared as it followed through. My aura had not been this dense originally, but as time passed, the magic layered over my sword deepened in saturation.

The blade, wedged at an angle in the spine, naturally tore apart the wolf’s body.

A critical hit. The wolf let out a scream, spilling blood as its body flew off in the same position it had leaped.

At that moment. Another wolf, dodging my blade, charged back at me.

I swiftly drew my sword and slashed horizontally. With a sharp bite, my sword wedged itself into the wolf’s wide-open mouth. It was at an angle that could slice through to its throat if I avoided its dangerously protruding fangs.

However, perhaps because the fatigue built up in my muscles was too great, the grip in my hand faltered, and the sword could not advance beyond that point.

With a crunch, the wolf bit down on my sword desperately, assuring its survival. That biting force was terrifying. I couldn’t pull the sword out right away.

The wolf, torn at the back, made its last effort to fight back at that moment. Squeezing its remaining strength, the massive mouth lunged to bite me.

The sword wouldn’t come out, and it was too late to dodge.

In that critical moment, as my mind frantically searched for a way out, everything went white.

My hand instinctively patted my waist. A strange sensation clutched there.

It was a hand axe. A sub-weapon that had been hanging from my belt for some time.

My arm jerked as my hand drew out the hand axe. Much shorter than my sword, the speed with which I drew it was incomparable.

And then, I brought the raised axe down.

With a crunch, the hand axe struck the wolf’s nose as it opened its mouth. Immediately, its jaws closed, and its head smashed into the ground.

The desperate struggle for life of that being ended there.

The wolf, which had been clenching my sword with its jaw, seemed to panic and tried to free itself from me. Its pitch-black eyes reflected no light, now filled with a glimmer of fear.

That was the last emotion the wolf felt. The hand axe struck its skull like lightning.

Bang, bang, bang. With consecutive sounds of the axe coming down, flesh and bone scattered in all directions.

Brain matter burst forth, and once the hand axe soaked in blood, the hunt was finally over.

The two wolves were now gone, leaving only two corpses behind.

I felt like I was dying from exhaustion. I barely resisted the urge to collapse. There was still one presence remaining.

However, that presence was oddly peculiar.

There was no movement. After coming closer, it stayed casually in that spot. That made me even more suspicious.

Was it waiting to pounce, or was it simply waiting for me to tire? A wise hunter would surely do that.

Wolves and humans. I could no longer tell who the hunter was and who the prey was. I steadied my rough breathing and briefly enjoyed a form of rest against a nearby tree.

Even still, the last wolf did not move. Instead, it appeared to circle leisurely around the place it lingered, as if inviting me to come over.

You damn mutt, I couldn’t help but give a hollow laugh.

But there was no need to fight as it wished. I was exhausted while it was full of energy. Moreover, considering it was beckoning me over, it must have had some kind of scheme.

There was no reason to respond to such a childish provocation. Regardless, once Professor Derek arrived, it would either flee with its tail between its legs or become one of the corpses in this clearing.

However, when a faint scent of medicine wafted to my nostrils, I froze. It was a smell I had encountered before. Such a thick and long-lasting scent was rare.

Even within this overwhelming stench of blood, it stood out distinctly. My body rose as if enchanted.

I started walking towards the clearing where it awaited me. This scent surely originated from an alchemist’s workshop.

The moment my steps halted was when I discovered the massive wolf standing between the clearing.

The size of the wolf I had faced until now was no small matter, but this one was even larger. It seemed to be over 2 meters tall. I would have to look up to meet its gaze.

The midday forest was silent. The sunlight filtered through the leaves, illuminating that giant form. Before such a fearsome monster, I felt like a mere dwarf.

However, it wasn’t the size that left me speechless.

It was the small piece of cloth the wolf was holding.

That cloth, stained with blood, was a piece of clothing Emma had worn that day.

With a mocking gesture, it spat the cloth out, then looked around with an insidious smirk.

All kinds of animals were lined up around the area. The peculiar thing was that all of them had their bellies ripped open, spilling their entrails.

This was not done out of hunger. It was merely for pleasure.

Monsters are such beings. They are entities brimming with endless malice towards other living beings.

I could not help but burst into laughter. That small sound echoed loudly through the forest.

Hehe, ha ha ha, keke.

It seemed I let out every type of laugh possible. My laughter only began to taper off after a long time.

My brain felt like it was boiling with heat. My heart pumped in sync with my brain as it raced. My head was starting to hurt.

Until then, the wolf patiently waited for me. It looked as if it had expectations.

So, I decided to give it what it wanted.

With a clink, the hilt of my sword pointed toward it. A growl flowed from my throat as it scratched against my neck.

“Hey.”

Its lips curved into a sly grin. As if it expected this.

“You will die by my hands today.”

Without fail.

Only then did the wolf start moving leisurely, examining me as if observing an interesting specimen.

The eyes of a predator they were, but today, the prey would be it.

My gaze darkened with a cold light.

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