Chapter 169
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Enlightenment (8)
*Whoosh.*
A strange sensation swept over my entire body.
One of my eyes throbbed with heat.
I knew instinctively.
Someone was calling me.
As if possessed, I took a step forward.
When I came to my senses, I was already standing before the gate leading into the floating city.
In the past, the Rose Garden Warden who guided me had to disable several layers of security just to pass through that gate.
But now, it was different.
*Click.*
The gate opened on its own.
It felt as if the floating city itself was calling to me.
After a moment's hesitation, I stepped through the open gate.
A long flight of stairs.
And a corridor beyond them.
Nothing had changed.
And yet, it didn't look the same as before.
There was a strange sense of vitality.
Even the faint hum of the main power unit in the distance seemed subtly full of life.
It felt as if the floating city, long in a deep slumber, had just begun to awaken.
Why now!
You're late!
But not too late!
As I walked for a while, I heard a clamor of voices in my head.
The specters of the long-fallen Old Empire.
Not specters, spirits!
Seekers of the stars!
The Starseekers!
They were the self-proclaimed spirits, the Starseekers.
Hurry!
You must walk diligently!
Because your legs are short!
They urged me on in one voice.
I didn't even need to ask where to go.
*Flick, flick, flick.*
Lights flickered on down one side of the long corridor.
It was a fork in the path I hadn't seen when I came with the Rose Garden Warden before.
I followed the Starseekers' guidance.
After walking for some time, a large door appeared before me.
I was wondering how to open the door, which looked incredibly heavy at a glance.
*Rumble...*
The door swung wide open on its own.
I stepped beyond it.
It was an unremarkable space, save for the exceptionally high ceiling.
In its center sat a single, solitary chair.
The voices of the Starseekers guided me to the chair.
*Plop.*
I plopped down onto the chair.
Short!
Your feet are dangling; it's quite an unsightly picture.
But it matters not.
I scowled.
“I haven't hit my growth spurt yet!”
The Starseekers completely ignored my protest.
Remove that ridiculous eyepatch.
One cannot hold the heavens with covered eyes.
Reveal your spiritual eye.
As always, they just spouted their one-sided demands.
I grumbled as I took off the eyepatch.
The moment I did.
*Flash.*
The world suddenly changed.
The featureless ceiling was stained a deep, dark blue.
Tiny points of light began to appear upon it.
“Ah…”
I was captivated.
A microcosm.
Or a celestial sphere.
Whatever you called it, the essence was the same.
It was a scene as if the night sky itself had been brought indoors.
Something that cannot be seen with the eyes of flesh, which chase only what is revealed on the surface.
This is the world the Starseekers see.
Now, you can truly say you have glimpsed providence.
The Starseekers boasted.
This time, even I had to admit they were right.
*Spinning, spinning.*
The countless stars shining on the dark blue canvas slowly rotated around me.
It was an ecstatic experience, the likes of which I had never felt before in my life.
It was also a sight far too precious to be ruined by bickering with the boastful Starseekers.
As I stared blankly at the celestial sphere, I belatedly noticed a single line cutting across the dark blue canvas.
The waypoint calculated by us ninety-nine Starseekers, putting our heads together.
The path the floating city has traversed for countless ages, repeating every seven hundred and sixty days.
The floating city's flight path.
In other words, the floating city had been repeating its journey along that faint line in a two-year cycle.
I'd thought the leadership of the Cradle had been controlling the floating city all this time.
Nonsense!
Only the Starseekers can alter the eternal flight path!
No one else can interfere!
A sense of pride could even be heard in the Starseekers' voices.
But that, too, was brief.
The path of truth is the very reason you have come to this place today!
The one-hundredth Starseeker, who succeeds us ninety-nine!
It is your time to step forward!
The voices ringing in my head grew urgent.
The flight path has been twisted.
At this rate, the floating city will head to the wrong place.
Someone must correct it.
At the Starseekers' words, I tilted my head.
“You said only Starseekers can modify this 'eternal flight path' or whatever.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the voices in my head abruptly ceased.
“...?”
As I quietly awaited a response, the Starseekers finally spoke again after a long pause.
It is the fault of the foolish dwarf who failed to do his job properly!
Our calculations are absolutely not at fault!
That is the undeniable truth!
They sounded somewhat defensive.
“Aha. I see.”
The Starseekers immediately flared up.
You, your tone is unpleasant.
Surely you do not disbelieve our words!
For a Maknae!
Ignoring them, I asked what they needed.
The distorted flight path must be corrected!
There will be no other chance!
It is a task only you, the one-hundredth Starseeker, can perform!
In short, they were saying that if the deviated flight path wasn't corrected, there would be problems.
“Can't we just leave it? It's an empty sky anyway, what does the flight path matter?”
It's not like this vast expanse of sky is divided into territories.
I figured it wouldn't matter where we passed through in the wide-open sky.
Foolish words!
If the flight path is not corrected, something terrible will happen!
A disaster, a great disaster!
Despite the Starseekers' warning, I couldn't readily understand.
It's not like we're going to fall.
As if going a little off course would cause some huge problem.
Not all stars in the heavens are auspicious!
We established the eternal flight path by selecting only the auspicious stars!
Veer from the path, and safety cannot be guaranteed!
They were saying they didn't know what would happen if we strayed from the eternal flight path.
But I couldn't figure out what that 'something' was.
How can you be so dense!
It's shameful to think we are both Starseekers!
That's just how the Maknae is!
The Starseekers suddenly began to berate me.
“That's why I'm asking you to explain it so I can understand.”
The Starseekers clicked their tongues once before shouting.
Listen!
Listen closely!
We will explain it at your level!
Until then, I had been indifferent.
The 'eternal flight path' and all that didn't resonate with me at all.
I wondered if they were making a fuss over nothing.
But they weren't.
If you stray from the eternal flight path!
The shadow cast between the stars!
The floating city will enter the domain of a malevolent star!
A malevolent star. The name was different, but I knew at once what it was.
What they call the Waning Moon Stars, or the Dark Stars.
They were undoubtedly the beings that stood opposite the guardian constellations.
They will either seize it!
Or annihilate it!
The fate of those residing in the floating city will be the same.
I didn't bother asking what would happen if the floating city was seized.
They will be cursed!
Stained by darkness!
Thereafter, they will never be able to look upon the starlight again!
Because the Starseekers explained it without my having to ask.
The deeds of the Waning Moon Stars were all pretty much the same.
It wasn't particularly surprising.
“This darn floating city… you can't let your guard down for a second.”
It's just one thing after another.
There was no greater white elephant than this.
One wrong move, and all the professors and cadets residing in the Cradle could end up changing their class to mages.
I asked the Starseekers for a solution.
They had told me when we met again that it wasn't too late.
So there had to be a way to fix it.
It is simple.
Only a Starseeker can correct the flight path.
If you succeed us ninety-nine, you will naturally come to know how.
As if becoming the one-hundredth Starseeker wasn't enough.
You are not complete!
The position of the one-hundredth Starseeker that you inherited was not meant to exist!
You must become one of us ninety-nine!
As always, their explanation wasn't clear, but it didn't matter.
“Whatever, I'll do it. Become one of the ninety-nine.”
After living every day on edge, not knowing when it might fall, I had finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief.
I had just reached the point where I could finally let everything go and leave the Cradle.
I didn't want to lose the Cradle like this.
Ah! This is destiny!
No! It is fate!
It was always meant to be this way!
The emotion in the Starseekers' voices was somehow complex.
Gladness, relief, and a strange hint of regret.
I understood the first two, but I couldn't fathom the last.
But before I could realize the true nature of the regret in the voices of the ninety-nine Starseekers.
*Fwoosh!*
A light enveloped me.
And when the light faded, I knew.
The correction of the flight path was already complete.
Now we can depart in peace.
We leave the floating city in your care.
I came to understand the reason for the regret they had shown.
“Ah…”
The ninety-nine spirits appeared before my eyes.
Not as the faint forms I had seen until now, but in the vibrant likeness of their living selves.
“You all…”
But their appearance was so very different from what I had imagined.
Every one of them was youthful, every one of them was young.
For me, who had imagined venerable old scholars or white-haired sages, it was completely unexpected.
The one-hundredth, and one of us ninety-nine.
The one and only human to succeed the ninety-nine of us.
O, final Starseeker.
The youthful boys smiled at me.
It was a smile that seemed somehow regretful, yet also relieved.
The starlight will guide you.
We hope you will finally reach the path we could not take.
Goodbye, Maknae.
They waved to me.
Forevermore.
Until their bodies scattered.
On and on, again and again.
*Fssshhh...*
And finally, even the faint shapes that had remained vanished completely.
“Seriously, if this was going to happen, you could've told me beforehand.”
I grumbled quietly.
But the spirits of the Old Empire, who had existed for thousands of years, were no more, so there was no one left to answer me.
And so, I became the master of the floating city.
***
I had become the master of the floating city, but not much had changed.
The deviated flight path was slowly correcting itself, and besides that, there didn't seem to be anything else that required my intervention.
This giant city was like a living creature, capable of fulfilling its own needs.
All the floating city needed was the presence of a Starseeker.
In other words, I was nothing more than a key.
Even without me, the floating city would have gradually recovered its original functions.
This was a fact I came to know naturally upon becoming the one-hundredth and first Starseeker.
It felt like I had finally finished my work in the floating city.
“Heave-ho.”
After staying inside the floating city for a while even after the Starseekers had disappeared, I headed back outside.
“It's still bright out.”
It seemed not as much time had passed as I'd thought; the sun was still high in the sky.
I was just heading off to find the Vice Director to discuss my departure date.
“Where have you been!”
The Rose Garden Warden suddenly appeared.
“I've been looking all over for you!”
A lot of people seem to be looking for me in a hurry today.
I was waiting for an explanation, wondering what it was this time.
*Grab.*
The Rose Garden Warden abruptly grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Perfect timing. It looks like you've packed all your things. No. It doesn't matter even if you haven't.”
His tone was somehow urgent.
“Right now, getting away is the priority.”
What was this all of a sudden?
“The timing was bad.”
The Rose Garden Warden began to ramble disjointedly about why he had been looking for me.
A high-ranking official from the imperial family had just arrived to commend the Cradle for its actions on the 13th front.
Of all times, it was right after I had submitted that apocalypse record.
What a coincidence.
“The commendation is just an excuse; the real purpose is investigation. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent such a person. Especially not this far ahead of schedule.”
The Rose Garden Warden stressed.
I must not, under any circumstances, run into the person dispatched by the imperial family.
He said any hastily fabricated lies would be seen through in an instant.
“That person rose to the position of the Empress's confidant thanks to a blessing specifically suited for that.”
He said that while a high-ranking knight like himself might be fine, a cadet who hasn't even taken the Oath would never be a match for them.
“Just go down for now. We can handle the aftermath.”
A sudden sense of unease made me look at the Rose Garden Warden.
“You knew?”
He scoffed at my words.
“You were so obvious about it. I'd have to be dead not to know.”
I had already expected my identity to be revealed, so I wasn't particularly surprised.
“This is no time to be complacent. If I know, it means others can find out too.”
He quickened his pace.
Before I knew it, we had reached the outskirts of the Cradle.
A griffin was folding its wings, preparing for flight.
The rider's face was familiar.
It was Knight Ryungsen, to whom I was already indebted several times over.
“Take this.”
As I hurriedly climbed on behind Ryungsen, the Rose Garden Warden handed me a bundle.
“It's the reward I promised. You should at least take what you've earned. Now, go.”
Before I could even check the reward, he slapped the griffin's rump.
*Kyaaaak!*
The griffin shrieked and took flight.
“The record you left behind at great risk has been preciously received by the Cradle!”
So don't worry about the Cradle.
The Rose Garden Warden waved.
“Hold on tight.”
At Knight Ryungsen's words, I gripped the saddle's handle tightly.
The griffin flew along the outskirts of the city in the sky, then dived sharply.
In the final moment.
Just before the Cradle disappeared from view.
“Are those new cadets?”
I could see new cadets disembarking from an airship, having just arrived at the Cradle.
It was too far to make out their features in detail.
“Hm?”
But one of them looked strangely familiar.
“Must be my imagination.”
I wasn't close enough to distinguish faces, and the moment I saw them was fleeting.
And this wasn't the time to be recalling ill-fated connections from a past life.
“Ah. I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye.”
Thinking of the kids, I smacked my lips.
And so, I left the Cradle a little earlier than planned.