Episode 27 (Max’s POV): “My One Wish”
“Lord Conrad, hooray!!”
“Hooray for the Frontier Hero, Conrad!!”
Everyone raised their voices together, praising his childhood friend. Those who’d known him, and those who knew him only by rumor alike.
Thirty years had passed. The world had changed, peace had come, and Max had married and had children.
But the childhood friend standing before him hadn’t changed at all since that day.
Since the day he’d come to Max, unable to move after being attacked by a monster, and told him, “Don’t worry.”
How many times had he regretted not stopping him that day? He couldn’t even count anymore.
The village had mattered to him. Everyone in the village had mattered to him.
But if he was honest, what had mattered most of all was his childhood friend.
And yet, that day, Conrad’s eyes had already been set with resolve.
Because to Max, he had always, from the very start, been the greatest hero there was.
—So he hadn’t been able to stop him.
“…Conrad…”
His voice trembled. The hero everyone had been calling for walked straight toward Max.
Reflected in Conrad’s eyes, he’d surely grown considerably older.
“Max!!”
A thick arm wrapped around his shoulders. Those strong-willed eyes, those heavy brows, that wide mouth.
Every day, he made his rounds past the statues scattered around the village. And still, no matter what he did, the memory kept fading.
(I’ve wanted… I’ve wanted to see you, for so, so long…)
To keep his promise to Conrad, he’d spread word of him as the “Frontier Hero.” Written books, built statues, spread rumors far and wide.
To protect the village Conrad had protected, he’d founded the community council, taught the villagers how to defend themselves, and set aside funds for whatever might come.
He’d taken in an orphaned child, a relative of Conrad’s, and raised him as his own son.
The moment the fields had suffered even the slightest damage, he’d used every connection he had to call on the lord for aid.
In the time since his childhood friend’s death, he’d kept himself, in his own way, thoroughly busy.
He’d thought hard about what he alone could do, and worked at it with everything he had. There was still a mountain of things left to do, even now.
—But his one true wish had never once changed, not since that day.
“…I wanted to see you…!!”
He’d wanted to hear his voice. He’d wanted to see his face. He’d wanted him to smile. That alone.
He was confident no one loved the “Frontier Hero” more than he did.
But even more than that, it was simply Conrad — just Conrad — that he loved.
“Come on, you…”
Laughing, troubled, Conrad ruffled Max’s hair roughly.
“You really haven’t changed at all, have you, Max.”
Looking at the man before him, thirty years older now, worn with age, Conrad laughed.
“You always did cry too much. How’d someone like that end up protecting a whole village so well?”
“…Shut up.”
Holding a Max who couldn’t stop his tears, Conrad gently stroked his back.
“I wanted to see you too, Max. All this time.”