The day we left the orphanage.

We cheered for each other's future.

"Let's definitely meet again later."

That promise, I believed it would be kept back then.

---

Time passed.

I saved money.

I didn't miss opportunities, And I looked where others didn't. I bought land bit by bit,

And finally became a noble with a territory.

It was a life, That wasn't as bad as I thought.

---

For the first few years, we exchanged letters.

What happened today.

New friends.

Even the trivial details of daily life.

Every time I read a letter,

My childhood came to mind.

---

But.

I was the one who stopped the letters first.

Because everyone would have their own lives now. Because we couldn't stay in the past forever.

Just like that, I quietly let go of the connection.

---

Then one day.

Strange rumors began to be heard.

In the west, A pitch-black imperial palace was said to have been built.

In the east, A grand mage was said to have leveled a city in an instant.

The Demon King prepared for war,

The elves sealed their borders.

Even the Sword Master vanished without a trace.

The world was, Becoming strange little by little.

---

Still.

I brushed it off as nothing.

Surely...

There was no way those children were the protagonists of those rumors.

But.

That night. Everything ended.

---

Just ten minutes.

The empire collapsed.

Countless people fell, And I was eventually captured.

---

When I regained consciousness.

On the cold floor.

I slowly raised my head. I saw familiar faces.

Red hair.

Purple horns.

Silver hair.

Blond hair.

And black hair.

"...You guys?"

They were looking down at me without a word.

Those eyes, Were not the ones of the children I remembered.

And in that moment,

I realized.

The children I had let go of had eventually become villains.