Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Resolve
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“Then I’ll head out first, Great-Uncle.”
“Go on. I’ll follow shortly.”
After receiving Isht’s spear, Arsen left Everick behind to clean up the front hall.
Even outside the building, they were still underground, so no bright sky was visible, but just the open space above eased the stuffiness.
The old structure had a peculiar oppressive aura simply from being inside it.
‘Even underground, outside is far better.’
As he thought how much improved it felt, a muttering voice echoed in his mind. It was Barkran’s voice, from the pendant on his backpack.
[No matter how I think about it, something feels off.]
[What?]
[That spear you have... or whatever you’re calling it. It looks like something from my era, no matter how you slice it. Of course, we didn’t mount it on a shaft and use it as a spear.]
Arsen nodded in agreement.
[If it’s definitely from your era.]
[It sure seems that way. The design, the power—it’s on a whole different level from those relics you all tote around as antiques.]
For convenience, Arsen and Barkran had dubbed the era when their ancestors arrived and ancient ruins were built as Era 1, Barkran’s advanced era as Era 2, and Arsen’s modern times as Era 3.
[You said you’d never seen Era 2 stuff before. No one even knows it existed.]
[That’s right.]
Indeed, Era 2’s very existence was unknown in the present. Arsen himself had believed until meeting Barkran that Era 1 had simply collapsed, leading to the current world.
Barkran muttered conspiratorially, like a conspiracy theorist.
[All those countless buildings, all that advanced civilization’s tech... You can’t just wipe that away easily. For everything to vanish like that, something massive happened. Something that erased the civilization itself.]
Arsen silently agreed with Barkran’s doubts.
Ever since learning of Barkran’s existence, he’d questioned these facts himself.
Even if 22nd-century Earth lost its scientific civilization to some catastrophe and devolved into scavenging old junk, it’d be odd if no 21st-century traces remained—only museums preserving 10th-century medieval artifacts.
At the very least, ruins of skyscrapers should linger.
[No guesses at all?]
[None. If I had any, I’d have said so by now. Even the architecture—Era 2 buildings were made far sturdier and longer-lasting.]
According to Barkran, things like the rare indestructible doors in Era 1 ruins were standard in Era 2 structures.
Most were built with special techniques to withstand earthquakes or tsunamis, unbreakable without magic.
Hearing this, Arsen pondered deeply.
The reason Era 2 civilization vanished might tie into why the world had become this way.
Then, a sudden thought flashed in Arsen’s mind.
[Come to think of it, there’s another Era 2 relic.]
[What?]
[You, and all that junk from where you were.]
The orb containing Barkran was peak tech from his era—one advanced enough to dupe a poor grad student into illegal human experiments.
Plus, there’d been miscellaneous gadgets beside Barkran’s corpse. He hadn’t mentioned the body itself, sparing Barkran’s mental health.
Only now recalling it fully, Barkran’s voice trembled in response.
[Oh, right... Why did this survive, anyway?]
[Think about it seriously.]
Urged by Arsen, Barkran groaned in thought for a moment. Then, as if struck by realization, he exclaimed.
[Ah, the material!]
[Material? You mentioned something about the orb’s material before.]
[Lucaroot. It’s a divine new substance that restores its shape to the original using mana once memorized. They said it’d never break unless shattered to pieces, perfect for machinery.]
[Who?]
[The professor who recruited me for the experiment. Professor Yeriko, from the bioengineering department. He’d won a bunch of awards, apparently.]
Ignoring the irrelevant details, Arsen closely examined the orb holding Barkran.
A red material that seemed gem-like at a glance. But its oddly matte sheen gave a cheap, plastic-like texture.
[This is supposed to be that amazing stuff?]
[Yeah.]
[Your “terminal” thing didn’t work, but this does—because of that?]
[Probably?]
When shown the junk by Barkran’s corpse, the phone-like device had indeed been similar in function—text transmission only, no voice, but close.
Naturally, that terminal was dead.
He’d assumed centuries of neglect had ruined the precision device, but what if not?
What if something specifically destroyed the terminal?
* * *
“Was the food good?”
“Yeah. Tastier than in Timak’s territory. I could’ve stayed forever.”
Eloise spoke in a singsong tone.
Her cheerful demeanor made Arsen across from her smile too.
Watching his smile, Eloise suddenly asked,
“So, what’s wrong?”
“What?”
“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”
Her words caught Arsen off guard, his face showing it.
He’d never seen her as foolish or slow, but he’d never expected her to read him either. Arsen was always the reader, not the read.
Seeing his flustered look, Eloise grinned triumphantly.
“We’ve lived together for years—I could tell at a glance. Spill it to your big sis.”
“My birthday’s earlier, though?”
“Whatever.”
With a chuckle, Arsen shared the info he’d gathered and the worries it sparked.
The severed link between Era 2 and 3, the cause of Era 2’s fall, and so on.
Eloise frowned slightly.
“If only someone from that collapsing era left a book behind. Didn’t those ancient folk not write books?”
“They didn’t write physical ones... They broke free of thinking writing had to be on paper, I guess.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
Per Barkran, they’d digitized text into mana terminals like Earth e-books, but superior—memorize or record just by thinking while holding it. Handwriting became archaic.
Thus, “ancient mage tomes” in Arsen’s era were all old records.
Arsen, with Earth memories, got it instantly; medieval-minded Eloise couldn’t.
“Hard to explain. If I could make one someday...”
As they chatted intimately, Arsen noticed her smile.
A smile that begged a question.
“Why?”
“Just... We’re finally alone after all that crowding. Feels nice after so long.”
It ignored Maroon, who’d come along but was confined to his room after clumsily breaking something.
He barely counted as present.
“When we return to Belluan, you might miss these wandering days. Wanderlust isn’t nothing.”
“Not me. I’m sick of fighting. I even thought about staying here.”
Arsen studied her closely—complexion, expression, eyes, everything.
She’d said it jokingly, but deep fatigue etched her face.
Not the passing kind, but from months of wandering hardships since leaving home. The sort needing long rest somewhere stable.
Looking at her, Arsen asked seriously,
“You want that?”
“Huh?”
“To really live here.”
“Well...”
He was dead serious.
Knowing it, her reply held surprise and hesitation—the unprepared kind.
“Doesn’t have to be here. Our group’s strong enough now—minus Bellurmi mages or combat golems, no estate would turn us away.”
“But we promised the Bellurmi elders. To find the library and save humanity.”
“Lord, we needed that to rescue your father and reclaim the estate. If you just want rest, stop here. Send others topside; we stay.”
“I...”
Her trailing words proved her turmoil.
Arsen silently watched her lovely face twist in anguish, despair, torment.
After a moment, Eloise turned it back on him.
“Hey, Sen.”
“Yeah?”
“Why go so far to help me?”
Arsen sensed deep inferiority and self-doubt in the question.
The kind born from lifelong scorn—not for someone blessed like her.
He answered flatly,
“Because you like me most, Ellie. Same for me.”
Since birth in this world, Arsen’s life was constant struggle.
Born Castle Lord’s bastard, knight-awakened after trials, yet it persisted.
He always fought to prove himself.
His master Palato, liege lord, fellow knights, squires—they wanted prodigy knight Arsen, not the boy.
Grueling days of vomit-inducing training, bone breaks; perilous missions with comrades’ deaths.
Yet refusing fights meant social suicide for a knight.
But Eloise needed no proving.
She just wanted a peer friend. Warm words, gentle care.
And a girl melting with joy at his mere presence was salvation for him.
Making someone happy built self-worth and joy.
“Be honest. What do you want?”
“...I want to save him. Rescue Father, drive out my brothers, wake to mornings in my room again.”
She squeezed out,
“But I hate seeing you hurt. Worse than my own pain—like when your leg was severed fighting the monarch, or injured in the desert. Don’t want to see Rino, Bazkal, Sir Maroon, or others die or get hurt.”
Eloise broke into sobs, unable to continue.
Arsen hugged her crying-childlike form, patting her back lightly.
War was brutal, more mentally than physically.
Without his past-life memories, childhood ordeals, knight training forging his will, Arsen would’ve broken too.
“I’m fine.”
Feeling his clothes dampen, he murmured softly, holding her.
Again and again, endlessly. Until her sobs ceased.
* * *
Over ten minutes passed before Eloise stopped crying.
Face buried in his chest, she mumbled nasally,
“I’m so embarrassed now. Can’t lift my head.”
“Figured. Eyes probably all puffy.”
She punched his chest at the teasing—child’s cotton fist to him.
Arsen handed her his handkerchief, averting his gaze politely.
“Too sentimental, miss.”
“Keep it up, and I’ll zap you with magic.”
Watching her pout, Arsen laughed aloud unwittingly.
Moments later, she whispered,
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Everything. So glad you’re here. Always thought that. For real.”
“Same here.”
They sat in wordless silence.
Comfortable, serene—not awkward—filling the room.
* * *