Chapter 75 - Time! It Always Passes So Quickly

The way things had developed was completely beyond my expectations. In that moment, I understood that from the instant I appeared, the future had been utterly changed.

Love… the knowledge I had comprehended was very vague regarding this emotion of love.

"Sakura… I am very grateful for your love for me, and I understand your feelings. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing; I truly never thought I would change so many things."

Future Yae Sakura looked at the still somewhat bewildered Xin Yu, a smile on her face. She then glanced at her younger sister beside her, noting her curious expression and her healthy, rosy complexion.

"Lord God, this is the love you deserve."

"But… I can't accompany someone for too long. I still have many things I must do, and those things are even very dangerous. It's possible I could die halfway along the path."

"Lord God, please do not halt your steps for my sake," Past Yae Sakura said. "I merely expressed this love to you. Although my previous actions were very presumptuous, Sakura does not regret them."

"Lord God, please continue to advance. Please, continue towards the destination you wish to reach. Just please remember, when you grow weary on your journey, you can actually stop and rest for a while."

"...I do not love you, Sakura."

"But I love you. That is enough."

Xin Yu looked at the gentle smile blossoming on the woman's face before him. A thought suddenly arose in his heart – the desire to stay in this era, to spend the rest of his life with her.

......

Yae Sakura was sweeping the fallen cherry blossom petals on the ground when she heard footsteps approaching from behind. Seeing Kallen, whose body had fully recovered, she bowed slightly and said to her, "My apologies, Miss Kallen. What Sakura did before was indeed wrong."

Kallen smiled and waved her hand, not holding the previous incident against her at all.

"It's alright, it was just a misunderstanding. Besides, I've troubled you all with my care this past month, and your Lord God also helped me solve a huge problem."

Kallen had always felt that the young man seemed particularly helpless about being called a god. But in this past month, having personally witnessed how he could command the wind and rain, Kallen felt that there was indeed reason for him to be called a god.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes. If I stay any longer, those people from my home will come after me. Although the thing I was carrying has been dealt with, if they come here, they might cause trouble for everyone in the village. So, I must leave."

"Where do you plan to go?"

"I'm going across the sea, to find the Sages of Shenzhou, that land. I have some questions I want to get answers for from them."

"In that case, let me prepare some money and rations for you, as an apology for what happened before."

Kallen initially wanted to refuse, but seeing Yae Sakura's insistence, she could only accept with a sigh. A short while later, she shouldered a small bag given to her by Yae Sakura, which contained some gold, some specially made dry rations, water sealed in bamboo tubes, and some medicine.

As a member of the Kaslana family, inherently possessing monstrous strength, and even being the strongest Valkyrie of her generation, Kallen still felt very light carrying this pack filled with so many things.

Before departing, Kallen smiled and waved goodbye to the villagers. Everyone in the village was very enthusiastic, their faces beaming with happy and joyful smiles; every single person was full of hope for their own life.

Kallen truly wished that the common people back in her homeland could be as happy and joyful as the people in this village, able to live each day full of hope. When she asked the villagers why they could be so happy, everyone replied that it was because of the Lord God's blessing.

Kallen had also sought guidance from that Lord God, but he had stated that his abilities could only help a small number of people. If one wished to save a world from famine, disaster, war, and plague, that was an impossible task.

At least, he did not currently possess such power.

"Even so, the abilities I possess require me to stay in one place for a long time to allow people to remain filled with kindness and happiness. Once I leave, and the forces of nature descend again, people will return to their previous state of struggling for survival. Then, the kindness I awakened will still be crushed by reality."

"If you want to create a world where everyone is happy, the most fundamental condition is to ensure that everyone has enough to eat and no longer struggles on the brink of life and death."

Kallen had originally sought out the Sage of Shenzhou primarily to resolve the issue of the entity sealed within the Black Box, but now, she wanted even more to obtain answers to other questions from the Sage.

Xin Yu stood on the roof of the shrine, gazing into the distance, watching Kallen's figure grow increasingly blurry until she completely disappeared into a patch of forest.

He knew, he could feel it – a certain segment of history had been completely altered. The Yae Sakura from the future had been overwritten by the current Yae Sakura. Perhaps if he returned to that future time period, the miko who had fought for 500 years would no longer exist.

He didn't know if his choice was right or wrong. He decided to stay. He decided to properly accompany one person for her entire life.

That person had offered me her whole heart's love; if I gave nothing in return, wouldn't that be too cruel?

I possess the ability to manipulate time; my own time is very, very long.

Long enough to accompany a person for their entire life.

One year later...

Yae Sakura and I leaned together beneath the cherry blossom tree. I spent a year truly taking in the miko's love for me, learning from her love, trying to let myself fall in love with her. After spending that entire year, I successfully fell in love with Yae Sakura.

Two years later...

These two years passed particularly quickly. For some reason, I always felt they went by faster than the times I used to spend in a daze.

The days passed, one repeating after another. The feeling of spending day after day with the one I loved was indeed very good.

Three years later...

I had grown up. On a certain night with a full moon, a certain miko slipped into the god's quilt. That night, we both thoroughly... grew up.

Four years later...

The miko wore a wedding dress. It was a tradition here, seemingly called a shiromuku. Looking at the miko in her bridal attire, I thought she was beautiful. She was the person I deeply loved.

Ten years later...

We had no children. Yae Sakura was very troubled by this. I had already told her that she and I were fundamentally different in many aspects; it was quite normal that we couldn't conceive a child.

Twenty years later...

Yae Sakura's father passed away. The faces of the villagers attending the funeral were filled with sorrow, but Yae Sakura and Yae Rin didn't feel much grief. After all, even after so long, they couldn't completely let go of what had happened in the past.

Thirty years later...

Sakura... seemed a little old.

Fifty years later...

Sakura's face was covered in wrinkles, and her hair had turned somewhat white. Her former youth and beauty were gone. She now always avoided me and was unwilling to sleep with me, saying she was no longer worthy to be by my side. But how could I possibly care about such things?

I looked at the traces time had etched on Sakura's face, and this time, it was I who kissed her more forcefully.

Seventy years later...

Sakura... reached the end of her life.