Chapter 1641 – Hydra Kingdom Founding Festival ⑥

At Alice’s suggestion of adding Neun-san and Hapti-san, our group of four decided to look around together. Well, strictly speaking, half of the members are just Alices……

[Which way are you planning to go, Kaito-san, Alice-sama?]

[We were just roaming around before watching the Sea Dragon Parade.]

[I see, that’s nice. The Sea Dragon Parade is somewhat reminiscent of a lion dance, and it’s fun to watch.

[Have you seen it before, Neun-san?]

While I can’t really picture Neun-san participating in such festivals, when I think about it again, Neun-san is also over a thousand years old, and considering that she’s best friends with Hydra Kingdom’s King Laguna-san,  it wouldn’t be surprising if she had come to watch it many times.

[I have seen it several times. This year too, Laguna gave me a ticket, so I thought I’d go see it with Hapti-san……]

[Having a friend who is a King certainly makes it easier to secure seats at these kinds of events, doesn’t it? Rather, I’m changing the subject a bit, but when I looked at the list of attendees for the ceremony, I saw the name “Fors” on it, so it seems like Fors is also attending huh.]

[Fors was? That is…… I wonder if she actually managed to arrive?]

[Ahh, I sent her here the other day.]

As I had expected, they are aware of Fors-san’s poor sense of direction, as they looked really worried about her. So, I briefly explained to them the incident from the other day.

When I told them the story about how I happened to find the lost Fors-san and safely delivered her to Laguna-san, Neun-san and Hapti-san both had wry smiles on their faces.

[How should I say this…… Fors is still as usual huh. She got lost at the Six Kings Festival too and was rescued by Kaito-san, wasn’t she?]

[Right. Arehh? Come to think of it, I just remembered this…… but at that time, when Neun-san saw Fors-san’s appearance, you were surprised back then, weren’t you?]

[Yes, her appearance had changed since the last time we met after all……]

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[Ah, well, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m just a little curious…… Have you not seen her in more than 15 years?]

[Uuuu…… T- That is, well……]

It was truly just a simple question that popped into my mind. Neun-san seemed to be close with the members of the Hero Party and I often see her with them. However, back at the Six Kings Festival, she seemed surprised by the changed appearance of Fors-san, whose appearance had apparently changed about 15 years ago. In that case, it’s likely that they hadn’t seen each other for at least 15 years.

Finding it a bit peculiar when I thought about it again, I asked Neun-san about it, to which she seemed a bit awkward, averting her gaze and hesitating to respond.

Thereupon, Alice explained with a wry smile.

[Ahh~~ Kaito-san. That’s something quite common among long-lived beings or individuals who have lived for a long time. How should I say this…… It’s like their sense of time has become numb. In the first 100 years or so, they would often keep in touch with acquaintances quite regularly…… Well, it’s similar to Kaito-san’s sense of time right now. As time goes on though, say around 300 to 500 years, they accumulate more acquaintances, and it becomes common to have not seen some of them for several years, which makes it so that even a few years can start to feel like it hasn’t been that long since they last met.]

[Yes, that’s the case. When you have acquaintances you haven’t seen for even longer periods of time, a few years of not meeting can start to feel like it’s not that significant. I used to think that the time intervals for long-lived beings like Fors and Laguna were far too imprecise and different from mine, but as I lived longer, my perception of time also changed…… When I’m not being consciously aware of it, those time intervals would turn out that way.]

[I- I see……]

For someone who had lived for up to about a century, even if one says they hadn’t met someone for a long time, they would typically be talking about just a few years or at most a few decades. However, when you live for a very long time, you start to have acquaintances you haven’t seen for several decades, or in some cases, even centuries, and that’s when their perception of time begins to shift…… Come to think of it, even though Sieg-san in her 30s is considered a long-lived species, her sense of time intervals is normal, similar to that of humans, but Rei-san and Fia-san have a more casual sense of time intervals and don’t consider several years to be a long time.

[This is something that you’ll also experience once you’ve truly lived for a long time. Your perception shifts without you realizing it, before suddenly noticing it one day…… I think when Kaito were to live for about 500 years, you yourself should start to feel it.]

[She’s right, Kaito-san. That really happens to people, so be really mindful of it. If you don’t consciously keep it in mind, there may be some among your acquaintances with whom you wouldn’t be in touch for more than a hundred years……]

[I- I’ll be careful.]

Neun-san also strongly agrees with Alice and Hapti-san’s words…… It certainly seems that a shift in the perception of time intervals is something more likely to be experienced when one has lived for a long time.

Being immortal myself, I guess I have to be careful not to have that happen to me later on……

<Afterword>

Makina : [Ahh, I get what they mean here. I also have World Creator acquaintances that I haven’t talked to in about 13 billion years, haven’t I? I just keep on forgetting about them.]

Serious-senpai : [Nah, yours feels more like on a completely different level.]