If the production team of Chronicles of Aetherna stood up and said, “This game series ends here. Thank you for your love until now,” I would be really disappointed.
I’ve been playing for quite a long time, and when my friend first recommended it, I was like, “What kind of game is this?” But I couldn’t help but follow along since I got hooked on the story!
Actually, I’ve experienced something similar before—where the world setting changed and the characters’ stories ended in the previous series.
At first, it was bittersweet. The aftereffects lingered longer than I expected; for months, whenever I saw that portable game console with the last episode, the ending would keep popping into my mind.
I thought, “So I can’t see these characters’ stories anymore.” Even if there’s a sequel, it might just be a short novel or a comic. Even if they made an animation, the characters I cherished through gameplay won’t be in it.
Those thoughts kept haunting me.
Eventually, I got better.
No matter how much I felt the aftereffects, it was just a game, and those feelings usually fade away with time. Once the swell of emotions subsided and I stopped seeing the game every time I picked up the console, I didn’t think much about it anymore.
Then a new series with a different setting came out, and I reserved those games.
In the end, isn’t life a game?
No matter how much you love a work, you can’t spend your entire life just enjoying that one work. Life goes on, and if I want to eat, I have to keep myself busy.
But sometimes, when I think back to that old console, which now has no new games, I might pop in that title whose cover has faded from the light, and wait for it to load.
Then, I’ll retrace everything from the beginning, and while sifting through my hazy memories, I’ll remember why I loved that game so much and why I played it so zealously.
I guess even the last games I played went through the same process.
I think the CEO of Millennium said they wanted to wrap up the series before retiring, so there’s bound to be an end after all.
Others might feel differently, but for me, the day that game was released was like a festival!
No matter how much criticism there was, I would have eagerly awaited the sequel and bought it each year to play.
What does it feel like to follow a game series that spans the world from beginning to end for over ten years and finally see it conclude?
I can’t say for sure, but I’d expect the emotions I’ll feel will be much bigger than what I experienced with the previous series—
*
—Well, I can’t see that kind of “ending” now.
If we call the end of a person’s life a conclusion, then what’s considered the epilogue? Where does the prologue start and end, and where does the main story lie?
The teenage years are too young! Spending half that time figuring out who I am feels like I shouldn’t label the last five years as my “glory years.” So, up to now, could be considered the prologue.
But then, what about the main story?
Just trying to define what I want to do in the 20s I finally reach after finishing my teenage years feels like it passes way too quickly. In fact, many events planted during this time often bloom later, so there’s really not much of a “main story” to go on.
The thirties are a time when I’ve finally settled down. Honestly, starting from now, there’s just so much work that it’s tough to stir up any big events. Frankly, there’s not enough exciting content here to call it part of the “main story.”
After that… well, I don’t really know. I’ve transitioned here without experiencing what comes next.
To be honest, in my view, the main story has already ended. I’ve already dealt with the Emperor’s ambition, the Goddess’s conspiracy, and the Papal State’s delusions.
And yet, I’m still just sixteen.
Even by tomorrow, I’ll still be sixteen. We don’t count age in this place.
Honestly, isn’t it a bit unfair to say, “The main story is over,” at this age?
If everything that follows is just an epilogue, that’s quite harsh.
And if those “epilogues” involve situations like a war breaking out, isn’t that just a bit too much?
“I don’t think mixing tea with alcohol was a good idea…”
Alice said, with her face buried on the table.
Honestly, she didn’t look much like a Crown Princess at that moment.
She was in her mid-teens, and aside from her youthful looks, she looked like a rookie employee who had just come back from a drinking party the night before.
Even though I said I wouldn’t let the kids drink, it wasn’t as easy as that.
First, Charlotte already had a tolerance for alcohol. I mean, being from Velbur, a country known for its wines, she didn’t seem to have an issue with drinking in general.
Of course, Jennifer hadn’t touched the cooking wine since that first sip. However, she praised the Eastern wine brought by the Sword Saint.
And then there’s Rena. Rena claimed she didn’t like wine.
Well, saying she didn’t like wine pretty much indicates she had tasted other spirits before.
The Empire isn’t just mixed with England, but also with Germany. Naturally, you find places where beer flows like water!
Including the Northern Region of the Empire, that was part of that German cultural sphere. Apparently, here in the autonomous regions, even kids can drink beer.
Jake and Roti had disappeared from the room halfway through. I heard they went to the guest room, but… I didn’t pry any further. They probably spent time together as long as they didn’t cross any lines.
Jennifer, who I had expected to be a lightweight, was actually downing her drinks straight from the bottle. What really surprised me was how strong Carolyn turned out to be with alcohol. She didn’t go crazy like Jennifer did with the wine, but she kept filling her glass and drinking.
“Northwood is known for its alcohol, after all.”
“More accurately, it has a lot of quality oak.”
Jennifer supplemented Carolyn’s explanation.
So, they were saying it was famous for making liquor aged in high-quality oak barrels.
In no time, the box Jennifer had brought was empty, and soon enough, a bottle of rum appeared.
It was a very expensive liquor that had been stored in the Imperial Palace!
I have no idea who fetched it, but it seems the Crown Princess requested suitable drinks for her guests.
Even the Sword Saint, who brought that nameless Eastern wine, looked wide-eyed at how expensive that whiskey was!
Until then, Alice, who had been holding out against drinking, and even I, who had only slightly indulged in drinking in my past life, found ourselves intrigued.
“I don’t know why anyone drinks such things…”
And this was the result.
“After a few drinks, the person asking, ‘How do you drink?’ is none other than the Crown Princess!”
When I said that, Alice glared at me with her face still on the table.
“And what about you?”
Honestly, I was lucky enough to have memories up until Alice fainted.
I think I remained conscious until the point Alice was sobbing in Mia’s arms.
“Relative to that, I was fine—”
“Oh, I took pictures of my sister!”
Huh?
As I turned towards the source of the voice, Claire was there holding a camera.
And that camera had a large… bulb? It looked like a bulb, but the melted glass held a small magic stone instead of a filament. So, it seemed like a magically adjusted stone that emitted a bright light for a moment.
Considering the glass was melted down like that, I had a good idea of how many pictures she’d taken!
And I was sure I was in that picture as well.
…Could it be that the blinding flash I saw yesterday was because of the alcohol and not the flash?
“You wouldn’t command me as a princess to hand over that film, would you?”
“Of course not!”
In response to my statement, Claire looked at me as if I were ridiculous.
Moreover, judging by her posture, she looked ready to bolt any second, so it seemed she had no intention of getting caught.
“Leo, capture Claire!”
“…I’m sorry, sister.”
“I’ve taken tons of pictures of Leo too! And I’ve already developed the films with Leo’s pictures and hidden them. Even if you take this away, it won’t remove all of my sister’s pictures!”
A roll with twenty-four frames? It was clear that taking just this one wouldn’t erase all of them!
“If you’re going to fight, do it after school, okay?”
Jennifer, who had just woken up from sprawled on my bed, interrupted.
“If we want to attend school tomorrow, we have to start getting ready now, right? Even if it’s a day off, we still have to participate in the culture festival.”
“……”
Oh right.
Today wasn’t a day off.
Logically, it felt unusual to have a day off today, but we still had quite a few classes we needed to make up for.
“…This is the worst New Year’s Day ever…”
Alice mumbled with her face buried on the table.
“……”
Hmm.
What to say?
I think I was murmuring something about an epilogue, but after looking at this situation, it didn’t really matter anymore.
Whether big events happened or not, and how the story unfolds,
it really didn’t matter when it came to life.
If today exists, tomorrow will follow.
We’ll continue living like this, right?
Creating one event after another.
In that sense, the remaining parts of life are always the epilogue. And it’s also the prologue for new events.
“That’s right, just as the teacher said.”
I said, laughing to myself.
“Let’s start getting ready. We have our schedule today as well.”
As I stood up, Claire said,
“Yeah, I think you really need to prepare seriously, sister. Your hair is sticking out all over, looking like a lion’s mane.”
“……”
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