Fool's Library

This is only natural.

Amys is not Hiltina; she doesn't disregard the opinions of others and remain steadfast and determined even when everyone questions her.

She is not Gray, nor does she possess the ideal of the "Guardian," which the angel of fate would strive to achieve even if it meant severing her own angelic status and being forever banished to the deepest reaches of the stars.

Either of these two individuals could have overcome the will of the Judgment Star Cup during their long slumber with their own strength... Their minds remained clear and pure, untouched by any dust, and even after an entire era, nearly ten thousand years, they never wavered or became confused.

But Amys couldn't do it.

Even though she possesses the appearance of a Judgment Angel, her essence remains that of a little girl living on the border—the entire Canaan town, the dense forest behind the town, and the Three Sages Mountains with their snow-capped peaks in the distance—this is Amys's whole world.

It is perhaps too harsh to impose those great achievements that only true heroes can accomplish on a naive and ignorant country girl.

In fact, it is already a great miracle that Amys has been able to persevere to this day.

The cause of this miracle was the promise she made to Last: that he would definitely come and save her.

Since this agreement has not yet been reached, I must not give up first.

No matter how painful or sordid it is to hide oneself in a dark, shadowy cave, one must still live on, even if it means enduring ugliness...

Perhaps it was this unwavering determination that allowed that little girl to endure the long, endless years and persevere until today.

……

The train of thought paused briefly.

Rust stopped in front of a house in the town.

The entire house had been burned to ashes by the raging fire, and through the black and red flames, only the collapsing wooden structure could be faintly discerned.

But even through the faint outline of the building in the sea of ​​fire, Last recognized it.

This was his and Amys's dwelling in Canaan.

Initially, when the little cabin that belonged to Rust and Amys was built with the help of the adults in the town, it was completely empty inside, without even a decent bed; it was just an empty shell.

But later, through their joint efforts, whether by personally cutting down trees to make furniture or by exchanging hunted game and handicrafts with traveling merchants who regularly visited Canaan, the little house gradually became more substantial and vibrant.

This is a place that holds countless memories for Raste and Amys.

Countless scorching summer days and countless winter nights with heavy snowfalls, they would huddle in this little house, chatting aimlessly about trivial daily matters—simple, yet ever-fresh.

And when Last was trapped in the endless cycle of the same day in Deep Blue Harbor, no matter how desperate, how broken he became, or how he contemplated self-destruction—

But as soon as he returned to the cottage, saw the familiar wooden ceiling, heard the bubbling sound of porridge boiling in the pot, and saw the blonde girl humming a country folk song while cooking in the kitchen, Rust would immediately calm down and his soul would be healed, as if he were in an ideal paradise secluded from the world.

Amys could never become Hiltina, nor could she become Gray.

However, it is precisely because she is "Amys", that she is an ordinary country girl.

That's why she was able to be the only person in the world to stand by Rust's side when Rust was most confused, vulnerable, and even beginning to doubt himself.

Amys is willing to join the Shoreguards and become a "friend of justice"... but this is not because Amys herself agrees with the Shoreguards' ideals, but because it is Lust's ideal, so she doesn't mind taking it as her own ideal as well.

If one day Rust abandons this ideal, chooses to deceive himself and escape reality, or becomes corrupted and degenerates into a heinous criminal... then she will only follow him silently.

Amys will stay with Raste from birth to death.

"So...isn't that enough?"

Looking at the ruins of the buildings engulfed in flames, Last smiled slightly and murmured to himself.

"There's no need to emulate Hiltina's brilliance, nor to become Gray—"

"You are already dazzling enough, beautiful enough."

"In my heart, no one can replace you."

After saying that, he turned away gently, heading in the opposite direction from the little house that held countless memories for the two of them.

Last knew that the ruins of the cabin were empty, and that Amys's true form was not there.

To avoid being corrupted by the angel of judgment, and to prevent the last vestige of her self from being devoured by it... at this moment, the little girl carefully hid herself away.

She hid in a place known only to Rust and her.

Rust strode away from the ruins of the town engulfed in flames.

The thick smoke, carrying the scent of death, gradually dissipated beside me.

And so Rust followed the path toward the back of the border town, toward the mountains covered with dense forests.

That is where the boy and girl first met.

Chapter 254 Amys's Vow

Amys dreamed of that day again.

Her soul withered in a long slumber, and even her memories were gradually eroded and devoured by the will of the Judgment Star Cup. To this day, Amys has forgotten many things from her childhood.

However, this is the one memory she will never forget... Even if she hides in a dark crevice in a sorry state, even if she survives by ugly and unscrupulous means, she must preserve it and will never share it with anyone else. It is a memory that even the highest principles of heaven cannot take away from her.

Looking back now, I think it was from that day that I truly began to like Last.

……

The torrential rain poured down, gathering outside the cave into a seemingly endless torrent of rain.

The frail little girl huddled in the dark and cold cave, sobbing as she watched the water level outside rise gradually with the heavy rain.

Amise's parents died in an accident not long ago while they were on their way to exchange goods on behalf of the town of Canaan... leaving only six-year-old Amise alone.

In this isolated border town, it is a regrettable yet helpless situation.

Although the adults in town promised at the funeral that they would take care of Amy, who was an orphan, such comfort had no effect on Amy at that time.

In the mind of a six-year-old child, her parents are the entire world. Now that both her parents have passed away, she feels as if she has been abandoned by the whole world.

So, after her parents' funeral, Amy could no longer suppress her grief... and ran to a cave on the top of the mountain behind her to cry.

Unexpectedly, a sudden downpour occurred during this period, triggering a flash flood that completely blocked the cave and the road down the mountain.

Now, Amys is unable to leave the cave and can only silently wait for the flood to spread.

Am I... going to die?

The thought crossed Amys's mind the moment she saw the mountain floodwaters finally overflow the cave and pour into it.

For some reason, she didn't feel much fear of death.

This may be because, for Amys, who lost her parents, there was nothing left in this world that she could cherish.

But just then, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps wading through the puddles.

"Phew, the adults searched the whole mountain but couldn't find you... I knew you were in the cave."

The next moment, Amys saw a black-haired boy who looked about her age, soaking wet, appear at the entrance of the cave.

The boy's face lit up with surprise the moment he spotted her.

"But you're so careless! You didn't even notice it was raining so hard outside."

"It's raining so hard now, and there's been a flash flood... We can't leave here, and the adults can't get up either—"

"It seems we can only try to wait until the flash flood recedes."

As he spoke, the boy quickly walked to Amys's side, took her hand, and led her into the cave.

"Hurry up, the entrance is too low-lying and will soon be flooded by a flash flood."

"We need to move to higher ground deeper in the cave before the water gets too deep, otherwise we won't be able to find a place to stay later."

The boy held Amys's hand and led her through the cave.

Soon, the two found a high-lying rock platform deep inside the cave.

"If it's this high, it should be a little safer. From here on, we can only gamble on luck... gamble that the flash flood won't rise this high."

The boy seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but quickly rallied again.

"But with the rain so heavy outside, the flash flood might not recede for a whole day before the adults can come up and rescue us."

"We must be prepared to spend the night here. It gets very cold in the cave at night, and the most important thing is to keep warm."

He took off his soaking wet coat, wrung it out, and spread it out on the rock face.

Then he glanced at the little girl's thin shirt—Amys had run up the mountain to vent her anger after the funeral and hadn't thought about keeping warm at all.

After seemingly hesitating for a moment, the little boy took off his dry sweater and handed it to Amy.

"Put these on. We can't start a fire in this condition... It would be a problem if you got hypothermia."

Amise just stared blankly at the sweater that was handed to her.

She recognized the boy in front of her... He was also a resident of Canaan Town. His father died before he was born, and his mother died in childbirth. He had been an orphan since birth and survived only thanks to the help of the townspeople.

The two were about the same age, so Amys and he would occasionally play and frolic with other children their age in town.

However, their interactions were limited to this; they were merely playmates of the same age.

They are merely passersby in a certain period of life... Playmates who used to frolic side by side will, as time goes by, inevitably go down completely different paths in life due to differences in background, family, education, and so on, and will never be able to cross paths again.

Unexpectedly, he found himself in a cave in the back mountain.

Looking at the mud-covered yet spirited black-haired boy in front of her, Amys suddenly felt a strange sense of irritation.

That was the subconscious rejection and disgust that arose from the fact that she herself had also lost her parents and was now an orphan like the boy in front of her.

Why did you come to save me?!

"I've already lost my parents and been abandoned by this world... I just came here to vent my frustrations."

She crouched down, turned her back to Rust, covered her face, and her heart was once again swallowed up by the immense grief of losing her parents.

"I don't care if a flash flood drowns me, I'm an orphan anyway, no one will care if I die!"

Why did you come to save me?

"Originally, it would have been fine if only I had died, and none of this would have had to do with you... but you just had to come and interfere for no reason!"

"You're just a kid, why do you have to act like an adult and show off!"

The little girl cried like that, and the tears that had stopped earlier could no longer be controlled and rolled down her cheeks, turning into crystal teardrops.

In her view, the boy's act of coming to the cave to rescue her was clearly meaningless and a pointless act of taking matters into his own hands.

However, listening to Amys's questioning.

The black-haired boy's face, covered in mud, now revealed a hint of pride, his dark eyes filled with smugness and arrogance.

"Why did I come to save you? Of course, it's because I'm a champion of justice."

"As a partner of justice, how could I possibly stand by and watch someone in danger die?"

……

Hearing the boy's answer, Amys was stunned again, and even her sobs subsided slightly.

"What is this, a partner of justice... It sounds like such a childish statement."

"I think you've just listened to too many knight stories in those fairy tales. Those things are obviously lies, made up by adults to fool children."

"Silly, blank."

Despite the boy's naive thoughts, he uttered such words to himself.

But for some reason, after hearing the other party's rather childish remarks, Amys felt that the sadness in her heart was indeed diluted a bit.

Then, she saw the boy in front of her take a deep breath and his expression suddenly become serious.

"Ok."

"Since Xiao Ai, you're thinking of giving up on yourself and committing suicide because your parents have passed away..."

He spoke each word carefully and deliberately, as if he had made some profound decision:

"Then from now on, let me be your father."

“I will be your father, and I will be responsible for raising you, taking care of you, cooking you three meals a day, and waking you up every day.”

“As long as I can truly fulfill the responsibilities of a father… then, Xiao Ai, you will no longer give up on yourself and want to commit suicide, and you will no longer run to such a dangerous place alone to give up your life.”

Listening to the serious and earnest words of the little boy in front of me.

Although she had been crying just moments before, Amy couldn't help but burst out laughing at this moment.