Mysteries: Arcana Wars

"..."

Klein didn't expect that his pretense would be seen through so quickly. He thought he could keep it up a little longer.

"Don't keep trying to lie to me. I've been with you for more than a thousand years!"

Leonard angrily slammed the dishes on the glass table, pulled his stool a few steps closer to Klein, and then sat down seriously, supporting himself with his hands, his straight back slightly leaning forward, staring at Klein with a serious face.

"Klein, who lived in the Sixth Epoch three hundred years ago and has experienced a thousand years with me, would not, in my impression, sit still and shut up like you do when I complain. He is a lively and talkative person, and he would never miss an opportunity to argue with me.

"Besides, what I just talked about was about the two of us - or rather, your daily life in the Sixth Epoch, but you didn't react to it at all, just staring at me like this."

Leonard fell silent after saying that. His folded hands and half-long black hair covered most of his face, leaving only a pair of eyes as bright as emeralds staring at Klein quietly in the dark night.

The quiet starlight, the noisy neon lights, and the calm screen all melted into the emerald green water, reflecting the calm Klein.

It's different after all, Klein thought. The Leonard in front of him was no longer the Leonard who struggled to pursue him in the strange nightmare of the Fifth Epoch. More than a thousand years had washed away most of his immaturity. Although it was a relaxing midnight snack and chatting, his eyes did not forget to investigate and be alert to the surroundings. It was a reunion with old friends, but he never relaxed his tense muscles. The meticulousness hidden in the jokes and the sharpness sandwiched in the relaxation, the Leonard in the Sixth Epoch was already an excellent detective - a qualified angel.

The Fool, who should have provided him with shelter and blessings and guided him in the current unclear situation, is still staying in the Utopian town of the Miracle Worker more than a thousand years ago.

As if he could see Klein's complicated and uncertain thoughts through the faceless man's unchanging skin, Leonard suddenly sighed and chuckled to break the dull and defensive atmosphere, like a bitter smile or self-mockery. He stretched his body and leaned back on the chair, but his smiling eyes never left Klein.

"you are always like this."

Leonard said.

"Whether it was our first meeting in the Fifth Epoch a thousand years ago, or the disaster that put you into a deep sleep three hundred years ago, you always liked to pretend to be at the forefront, always thinking about how to leave us behind so that you could shoulder all the responsibilities and sacrifices by yourself."

"Maybe we were indeed as fragile and naive as a piece of paper back then, but now, more than a thousand years have passed, and we have long since emerged from the cruel times and become the angels of today. But even so, you are still unwilling to rely on us."

Leonard said, then smiled and sighed.

"Maybe you really have gone too far, so far that we can't reach you even if we stand on tiptoe or jump. But there are always things we can solve in front of you, and there are always things we can take some risks for you, but you still refuse to move the umbrella over our heads."

"I don't know the extent of your amnesia, or what abilities you still have, but at least now I am the one who has walked through a thousand years of time, and you are the lost traveler. I think you should try to believe in our power this time."

Watching Klein's expression change during the conversation, gradually revealing those lively, friendly, yet slightly awkward and uneasy expressions, Leonard straightened up with satisfaction and smiled triumphantly.

"So now, let's exchange information honestly!"

Having achieved his goal, Leonard adjusted himself to a comfortable bossy sitting position with satisfaction, staring at Klein's eyes with sharp eyes full of expectation, just like a big-tailed wolf waiting for the breeder outside the iron window to feed him dinner.

"Where is your last memory now?"

"... not long after I fell asleep in Utopia," Klein paused, "and in the past twenty years since I was resurrected."

"What is your current sequence?"

“…I’m a Sequence 2 Miracle Master, but I can only use Sequence 4 skills normally. Also, I can’t normally ascend to Sefirah Castle right now.”

"Your current identity is... a programmer?"

"Yes." Klein nodded.

After a quick round of questions and answers, Leonard lowered his head to think for a while, then smiled with satisfaction and handed the right to ask questions to Klein: "Now it's your turn to ask questions and I'll answer them."

"What's your situation now?"

"As you can see, I'm now a detective, and I'm considered a big shot in the police station. After all, it's not uncommon for people to become detectives at such a young age. I still live with the old man, and my current relationship is that I'm the old man's adopted grandson, but this time he didn't parasitize me."

Leonard stretched his limbs comfortably and sat in the chair in a comfortable position.

"Like you, I'm back to Sequence 2, but I can only use Sequence 4 skills. It's not impossible to use higher-level abilities, but it's very difficult and the spiritual energy consumption will be horrible." Leonard put his hands behind his head and put on a relaxed attitude, as if these difficulties were not a big deal. "Next question?"

"Next question," Klein stroked his fingers, paused, and then said, "What was I like three hundred years ago, the me who lived with you until the Sixth Epoch?"

After the doomsday when I was almost dead, will I still be able to smile as warmly as I do today? Will I still be able to sit with you like this in the ups and downs of the unknown millennium?

Bitter or sweet, can you tell me, sleeping under the Church of St. Arianna, what my future will be like?

Leonard's smile froze for a moment. His originally carefree and cheerful smile was like clear water stirred by a stick covered in powder, gradually becoming sticky and heavy, wrapped in the heavy memories of time and outlining a faint smile, and his two deep green eyes seemed to have seen a figure at the other end of time.

Perhaps because he felt guilty about stealing food from a cat, or perhaps because he didn't want Klein to see his complicated expression, Leonard stood up, quietly packed up his things and walked to the sink. From the open kitchen came the sound of running water and the clatter of dishes and chopsticks.

"Where should I begin?"

Leonard turned his back to Klein and began to tell those random stories. The noise of washing dishes seemed particularly noisy in the quiet little apartment, filling this small room full of inhuman atmosphere with a hint of fireworks.

"You'll be a great friend and a great boss."

The sponge that had been used for a long time was wiped over and over again on the bowl wall.

"You will defeat the 'Sky Lord' who always wanted to replace you. Of course, you paid a price, but at least you survived, and survived beautifully. You have a good and subtle relationship with the goddess and other gods, and you opened a dessert shop on the streets of Backlund. You have opened various small shops in various places in Loen. You also opened an ice cream shop in Winter County, worked as a tailor in Cape Town, and even built a bakery in Tingen."

"You will become a little crazy, and you will start to be keen on painting all kinds of things with fancy colors and decorations. You will like to play pranks on me from time to time. You have pried open the windows and doors of our house again and again, and scared the old man to always complain to me that I should not always come to your shop to eat and drink for free. You have added a lot of excitement and trouble to my busy life as a night watchman. How can I not come to take advantage of you?"

"I don't want to lie to you, Klein. But it's been more than a thousand years, and a lot of things can change. Even the moon is not red now. But you are Klein after all, and there are many things that cannot be changed by time. You still have the same enthusiasm for this world as you did more than a thousand years ago, and you still regard me as an old friend of yours. You are still seven points honest and three points reserved with me, just like we were in Blackthorn. I can never guess what you are planning behind your crazy laughter..."

So, will I really have a happy future? Klein closed his eyes and lay down gently against the back of the chair. Leonard's words were like twinkling nebulae in the sky, ethereal and so beautiful, casting a little warmth on Klein sandwiched between thousands of years of time.

He seemed to really see the quaint and fancy little shop on the side of the alley in the Sixth Epoch, and hear the tinkling wind chimes at the door. That was Leonard pushing open the door and stepping into the shop in the first rays of morning sun, clamoring for today's breakfast. Then the orange sunlight dyed the lush plants in the shop, and his familiar Tarot Club friends walked into the shop surrounded by the fragrance of flowers. Audrey, Alger, Derrick, Emlyn...

Maybe he was already crazy and incoherent at that time, always laughing crazily and talking incoherently, but he would definitely serve the sweetest pastries to his friends.

Although this was not perfect, he must have lost too many things on the road for this illusory future, which led to him becoming mostly crazy, but Klein was already very satisfied.

That's fine.

"It sounds like I'll have a new 'home', and it seems like there will always be one, no matter what."

Klein smiled, stood up and stretched his body, using the stretching action to hide his expression of confusion. He didn't know why he did this, because Leonard had his back to him and couldn't see him at all. Maybe he just wanted to hide this loss of composure from himself.

Everything seemed to become lighter, and the shadow that had been weighing on him since he woke up finally began to slowly dissipate.

"So, speaking of home, Melissa and Benson...what was their ending?"

Leonard was suddenly stunned. He turned off the faucet, put down the bowl, turned his head and said solemnly and puzzledly.

“Who is Megan?”