The young man murmured this conclusion which he read from Heimer's expression.
He glanced at the girl who was about to cry and guessed that the girl knew that the old man's current situation was not optimistic.
Even if Heimer didn't say anything just now, the keen Nia could sense the pessimism coming from Heimel that he had no choice but to give up.
Knowing that the ending was doomed to be irreversible, Nia had tears in her eyes and her heart could not be calm for a long time.
But she was still humming softly, using her soft singing voice to help her crying sister recover from the shock earlier.
Although Nia cares about the old man and wants to take care of him, what is the point of having one more person to take care of the old man at this time?
For a dying person, letting him leave the world in the safest manner is undoubtedly the safest way.
"Want...to exchange?"
The boy made a proposal.
"Huh? Exchange?"
Nia didn't understand what the boy meant for a moment.
The young man explained to her: "Are you going to take care of this old man? I'm a little tired here. You've been holding your sister for a day. I believe you're tired too, right? Let's change it, so that we can improve work efficiency."
"Work efficiency?"
Nia didn't understand the unfamiliar vocabulary in the young man's mouth.
"Well, anyway, I'll take care of Liana, how about you take care of the old man?"
Seeing that his roundabout words made the girl completely confused, the boy had no choice but to explain directly.
"Is it okay? Lianna is not asleep yet."
"It's okay, Liana doesn't hate me."
The boy straightened up and stretched out his hand to the baby girl in the girl's arms.
"good……"
Nia did not reject the young man. It would be better to say that this proposal gave her an opportunity to take good care of the old man, which made her feel grateful.
She handed her sister over to the boy, then grabbed the hem of her skirt with one hand and exchanged positions with the boy.
Nia, who had just sat down, once again lifted the old man's head, patted the old man's back to help him breathe, then put her knees on the ground and rested the old man's head on her knees.
Dundee, an old man who has been the village chief of Difenni Village for eighteen years.
His capable demeanor and his attitude of being kind to others and pursuing justice have made him deeply trusted and supported by the villagers in the past eighteen years.
"grandfather……"
The girl was still mumbling this title that she repeated over and over again.
Two years ago, in the cold eyes of the vigilant villagers.
Who was the first to smile at myself who was already frightened by this unkind atmosphere and was about to cry?
Who kissed and hugged her excitedly when she called him the word "Grandpa"?
Who never tired of lending a helping hand when he and his parents were in trouble?
There is no doubt that of course -
"Grandpa, please...open your eyes, please? Look at Nia..."
The girl choked and expressed her wish. But old man Dundee's eyes were still closed tightly, and the rising and falling of his chest became lighter.
"Grandpa, don't you...don't want to look at me in the end?"
Nia cried. She could no longer stop the tears from pouring out of her eyes, so she could only cover her sore nose and sob.
The boy, who had turned away from time to time at the beginning, turned his face away when he saw the girl was really crying. He focused his attention on Liana's peaceful sleeping face to give the girl enough private space.
But no one noticed that at this time, the old man's eyes began to tremble as if to break Heimer's prediction.
"Niya, good boy, don't cry..."
"Um?!"
When this voice, which was completely unfamiliar to the boy but all too familiar to the girl, sounded, both of them were at a loss.
"grandfather?"
The tears stuck to the eyelashes, like two curtains of water hanging in front of the eyes.
Nia's vision was blurry and she could not see the old man's face clearly.
She was about to wipe away her tears when a withered hand wiped the tears from her face first.
"Here? Nia, grandpa is here."
This hand was trembling, and it was obvious that the owner did not have much strength to lift this limb.
"Grandpa, you finally woke up!"
Faced with such a weak hand, Nia immediately held it with her slender and strong hands.
And he put this hand, which was as rough as dead tree bark, against his cheek to feel the old man's real temperature. To make sure that this was not an illusion created by him.
"Well, where's your mother?"
After Dundee recognized that the girl in front of him was Nia, he opened his eyes wide and looked around the environment in the car.
Confirming that they were in a safe place, the old man breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Dundee suffered a heavy blow to his head, his general memory was still clear and his thinking was not confused.
"Is there Lisa...is Federer also there? Are they all okay?"
He looked for a long time and found that he did not see the figures he expected. Instead, he saw a completely unfamiliar black-haired boy in the carriage.
"them……"
Nia couldn't answer Dundee's question.
"You're all outside? Are you okay?"
Through the girl's hesitant behavior, Dundee vaguely guessed something, and he immediately covered it up.
"Um, um, yes, everyone is fine."
Since I can't tell the cruel truth at this time, I have no choice but to live with the beautiful lies.
"Old man, give it."
The young man carefully held the sleepy baby girl, stood up and handed over the prepared water bag.
"No, I can't drink it."
Dundee shook his head and rejected the young man's kindness.
"You're not from the village, are you? It doesn't look like you're from around here. Are you?"
By the way, the old man turned his attention to this strange young man.
"Ah, I am..."
"His name is Verus. He saved me on the way. He is a good man! Now he is my companion."
Before the boy answered, Nia first explained the boy's identity.
"Well, yes,"
The young man did not deny it and nodded as Nia meant.
Of course, the young man didn't notice that he might have received the first good guy card in his life just in the last second.
"Haha, Nia, you are destined to have a good destiny. There will always be someone to help you when you need it."
Dundee smiled, and when the old man smiled, the hidden heaviness in the expressions of the boy and the girl naturally disappeared.
But just when they thought everything was fine, the old man started coughing after a while. This was not just a simple cough. He was coughing extremely violently, as if he was coughing out his heart and lungs.
"grandfather!"
"Old man?!"
Both the boy and the girl were at a loss for Dundee's sudden state.
"I'm old. I'm really old."
Dundee slowed down, his chest rising and falling, and finally said these words.
"It's okay, grandpa, didn't you say you could live a hundred years?"
"You can't accept old age, Nia. Grandpa is still old."
Dundee's voice was weak and his breath was imperceptible.
He felt that his body could no longer support it, just like a badly damaged machine that had finally come to an end.
"As you get older, you should take a nap, and you will feel much better when you wake up."
After saying that, he closed his eyes
Then, it never opened again.
"Grandpa...it can't be like this, right?"
Nia held the old man's hand tightly. The original warmth in her hand had been dissipating and finally turned cold.
Obviously I still have many questions that I want to ask him, but in the end I still have to hide everything in the haze.
There was chaos in the carriage, and Heimer and the others came in.
Heimer touched the old man's neck again, confirmed that his pulse had stopped, and then covered the deceased's face with a piece of white cloth.
It was still dark at this time, presumably it was early in the morning.
In the early morning of this day, the mayor of Dundee passed away.
The old man's expression at the end was not painful, as if he was sleeping normally.
After all, at least he wasn't alone when he died.
"You must not be defeated by this sadness. You must know that you still have a long road ahead."
No one knows.
In the quiet night sky above their heads, someone was watching them.
He was suspended in the sky, his sleeves light as if surrounded by a breeze.
A royal blue priest uniform blends perfectly with the deep blue night sky. But in fact, even if ordinary people look up at him, as long as he does not want to show his body, no one will be able to notice his presence.
This man's face wore a silver mask, inlaid with various jewels that seemed to be of great value. Even the seemingly ordinary pair of black boots on his feet shone with the luster of gems.
He stood tall in the sky, like a god looking down on the world.
"I received your wish."
He waved his hand, and a faint point of light flew up from the carriage below.
But no one below noticed anything unusual, and no one saw the existence of the light spot flying out from the dead old man's body.
"Forward!"
This person's sight seemed to penetrate the ceiling of the carriage and look directly at the people inside.
"Children who are still confused, I will wait for you at the fork in your road."
He stared at the black-haired boy, at the girl who was still immersed in sadness, at... the baby girl who was responding to him with curious eyes.
"A bit..."
Under the mask, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly, held the spot of light floating in the palm of his hand, and completely disappeared into the night.
"…mean."
The hoped-for miracle did not come.
After everyone calmed down and buried the old man properly, it was already dawn.
They started their journey again and headed towards their intended destination - Frost Town.
In the afternoon, they finally turned onto the main road, and at the speed of the carriage, they could reach Frostbite Town in half an hour.
"Wait a minute! Stop!"
Zeref was driving, but Heimer beside him suddenly snatched the reins from his hand and stopped the carriage.
"What's wrong?"
Zeref was puzzled by this.
"What's wrong? What happened again?"
After a while, the young man jumped out of the car and asked about the situation.
The girl in the car was very haggard because of what happened to the old man. Once she calmed down, she quickly fell asleep.
Although the boy was equally tired, he only fell asleep for a while. The sound of the car suddenly stopping woke him up immediately.
"We're afraid we have to change our route. We can't go to that town."
Heimer jumped out of the car and led Zeref and the boy a few steps forward. Then he pointed at the fresh footprints on the ground and said:
"Look at these footprints."
"Isn't this?!"
Both the boy and Zeref were shocked. They would not recognize such unique and familiar footprints.