Chapter 296: Chapter 296

Epilogue Roja

“Honey, are you feeling okay?”

“Hmm?” said Kelser Roja. His eyes were groggy and barely opened. “Yeah, sorry. Hangover.” He rubbed his forehead and let out a groan.

“Were you out drinking with those ruffians again?” said his wife, wagging her finger at him.

“Ruffians? Honey, they’re Councilors!” said Kelser.

“Exactly! Unscrupulous merchants, wily rogues, retired adventurers and even a hoodlum or two,” said the white haired woman with a smile on her face. “And the mayor is the worst of the bunch. A savage drunkard who wooed a young damsel with his tales of adventure, but ended up as a boring old politician in the city!”

Kelser ran a hand through his hair. “Listen, you know the mayor can’t handle any alcohol at all. That doesn’t make him a drunkard! And besides, who’re you calling a damsel? You were the one who swept me off my feet when we met, not me!”

The wife folded her arms and looked away. “I’ve been telling you this for decades now, it was an accident!”

“And I’ve been telling you for decades, you can’t just grab someone in a princess carry and call it an accident,” said Kelser. He smiled and got up, stepping closer to his wife. He put a hand under her chin. “And it can’t be an accident if it brought us together. Gotta call it fate or something, no?”

They kissed.

It felt like air.

Kelser’s expression fell. The hangover returned.

His wife had a sad smile on her face.

He reached for her hand. It passed through.

She looked him in the eyes. They stared at each other for a long, long time. Far past the time when the light of dawn was fading and Mayor Kelser was expected to be at the Councilor’s Building.

A sharp twang. Of pain. Of sorrow. Of loneliness.

Kelser winced. He broke the gaze. He closed his eyes. And when he opened them, she was gone, the window was open, and the curtains swayed like they had been touched by a ghost, except Kelser knew that ghosts weren’t real, and if they were, then they certainly couldn’t be touched.

---

“Morning Mayor! Late again, I see,” said a guard with a long scraggly beard.

“Morning Tarv, you know how it is,” said Kelser, scratching his head.

“Yes, yes, everybody knows the Mayor can’t handle his liquor,” said Tarv.

“Well, you know. It’s good to let loose a little,” said Kelser. “Especially on special occasions.”

“Special occasions? Is something happening today?” asked Tarv.

“Yes, but it’s a secret,” said Kelser, putting a finger in front of his lips. “I won’t be able to join the other Councilors tonight.”

“Oh? Something at night?” Tarv, the guard, smiled. “After all these years, has the Mayor finally found love?”

Kelser blinked. “What?”

“I’ve known you since I was a child. So did my parents, and even my grandparents! Nobody knows how old you are, since you barely seem to age, but in all of the stories my parents and grandparents ever told me about you, they never mentioned a partner. Gotta say. I’ve heard of late bloomers but an immortal human should be having more fun with his long life, shouldn’t he?” said Tarv.

Kelser stood in silence, one hand on the door, ready to push it open. He hesitated. Looked Tarv in the eyes. He sighed. “It’s nothing like that. I’m just meeting some old friends.” Kelser opened the door to the room of the Council. “But you might be right about one thing.”

“What’s that?” asked Tarv.

Kelser looked over his shoulder and smiled, slightly. “I really should be having more fun.”

---

The meeting with the Council was boring. New Cas City had multiple layers of government, most of them elected or pulled from an efficient bureaucracy, but the Council was at the core of it all. They spent most of their time going over documents, planning repairs for buildings and roads, going over tax records, and other mundane, administrative things.

The office of mayor was an elected one, but Kelser had held it for longer than anyone still alive could remember. The official records said he had been elected every year for at least two centuries, but the records from before then had been lost to the piles upon piles of ancient documents preserved magically in the basement.

Kelser sometimes joked that the reason he always won the election wasn’t because he was popular, but because nobody else wanted to do a boring job like this one.

The other Councilors would then reply with a joke of their own, saying most people had always known Kelser as the Mayor, so they just thought that was him name or something. It would be pretty mean to rob an old man of his name, they said.

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“We’re going to a new bar this time, Mayor. The Silver Moon, it’s called. Do you want to come with?” asked an elderly demon woman.

“Sorry, I’m a little busy tonight,” said Kelser.

“Are you still hungover because of yesterday? We’re really sorry! We won’t offer any drinks to you tonight. So why don’t you come with us to relax? I heard the Silver Moon has amazing food,” said the demon woman.

Kelser looked at the demon woman and his mind wandered for a moment. It went back to the time he helped create the teleportation corridor that ran through the mountains separating what had once been the lands of the humans from the rest of the continent. Kelser had watched New Cas City grow from a tiny city full of a handful of humans, into a sprawling metropolis with people from every sentient race.

Kelser shook his head. “I’m good. Besides, I’ve been to that bar before.”

“You have? But it’s the first time we’ve ever thought of going there,” said the demon woman.

“Oh? But it’s the oldest bar in the entire city?” said Kelser.

“It is?” she said.

“Yes, it is. The owner is an old friend. She won’t be there tonight, but you can tell the bartender I send my regards. I watched that kid grow up a long, long time ago,” said Kelser with a gentle smile.

“Is he an immortal human like you?” asked the demon woman.

“Nah. Half-elf,” he said.

The demon Councilor’s eyes widened. The other Councilors, who had been eavesdropping pretty conspicuously, also dropped their jaws.

“An elf!”

---

Kelser escaped from the Councilors while they were stunned. He chuckled to himself as he walked out of the door, said goodbye to Tarv, and walked down the paved path leading out of the town. It was a sort of special path, shielded by magic so that it wouldn’t be visible or accessible to anyone without the Mayor’s approval. It had come in handy a couple of times during monster emergencies. Being able to send powerful magicians and soldiers to the outskirts of the city at a moment’s notice made the defense of the city a lot easier.

Kelser reappeared from the path at a tiny abandoned-looking hut. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw the bustling city in the early evening sunlight, just beginning to glow orange.

The hut looked like it would collapse at any moment, but of course, it was an important conduit for Kelser’s spell. He fixed it up again a little, also making sure nobody had tried to use his special road again. He knew Taoc had been messing with it from time to time and although he could’ve shut out the little fairy if he really wanted to, Kelser didn’t think it was worth the time or the effort.

Especially not today.

Funny, Kelser thought to himself. Today was going to be such an important day for this world, but it was already an important day for him as well.

There was a tiny path behind the hut. A dirt trail leading far into the woods. Kelser began to walk on the trail. Gravel crunched under his feet. An insect buzzed near his ear. Kelser walked resolutely forward.

Wildflowers grew against the path as he neared the woods. Inside, a dense underbrush coated the ground, but the path was kept clear by a surprisingly powerful spell. Kelser didn’t brush past a single leaf or flower, and no insect ever touched him either.

There were no monsters in this area. The whole place was enchanted with a mellow scent and a warm breeze, and when the leaves rustled, they sounded like they were being caressed by a hand.

Kelser came upon a small hill.

Upon the hill, were two graves.

In Kelser’s hands appeared a rose, which he lay on one grave, before leaning down and whispering something. Something about love, and memory, and sadness, but also happiness, thankfulness, and even a little bit of joy.

Kelser got up from his wife’s grave and moved away to another part of the hill. He was always sad about his wife, but today was not her day. She passed on a cold winter’s day, warm against Kelser’s chest, in a time long forgotten.

On this side of the hill, facing the setting sun, Kelser got on his knees and bent down with his head on the earth. He whispered something. It doesn’t need to be shared. Today was the death anniversary for a very important person in Kelser’s life. Like a father, a mentor, somebody he had looked up to for a very, very long time.

“Kezler, you batty old man,” said Kelser as he sat back and managed to eek out some words, as if the old man could still hear him. “How’ve you been?”

Kelser continued talking to Kezler’s grave for a long time. He told him about the Council, what had gone on in New Cas City since the last time he had come to this grave, and he even told him a little bit about what was going to happen tonight.

Elder Kezler had been one of the few people who had refused the gift of Immortality. Kelser had tried to argue him out of it, but after a few centuries, Kelser had finally understood, why the old man hadn’t wanted to live for so long.

“Humans aren’t meant to be sad for so long,” said Kelser in a whisper. “And old age is an ocean of gloom peppered with tiny islands of joy.” Kelser sighed. “At least, that’s what I think. This isn’t even old age anymore. I’m worse than a fossil.” Kelser brushed his hair back and looked at the sky. “It’s getting late. I told you what I have planned for tonight.”

Kelser smiled. “See you later, old man.”

Kelser snapped his fingers and he disappeared.

A gust of wind blew the blades of grass, until the whole hill rippled.