Chapter 668
Chapter 668
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 668
Chapter Title: A Past Unspoken
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*Knock, knock—*
“Come in.”
Gazing up at the night sky from his office window, Dweno spoke calmly.
The door opened, and Enniha entered.
“Have those friends gone to their quarters?”
“Yes.”
“What about the outsiders who arrived earlier?”
“They said they're from the same place as the new arrivals. An advance scouting party, apparently.”
“Is that so.”
Watching Dweno nod, Enniha placed a long pipe between her lips.
“Want a smoke?”
“You know I don't smoke.”
“You're quite a peculiar dwarf.”
“Enniha. You're just as unusual an elf.”
Smoking is originally a dwarven custom.
Dwarves, craftsmen by birth, often have to sit still and think deeply.
As a result, they naturally began to burn and smoke herbs that aided concentration, and this was the origin of tobacco.
And elves despised the distinct aroma produced when herbs were burned.
Thus, the sight of an elf with a pipe in her mouth was a very peculiar one indeed.
“*Hooo.*”
Exhaling a long plume of smoke, Enniha approached Dweno's side, looked up at the night sky, and murmured.
“It's so beautiful. It still feels like a dream, being able to see the stars in the night sky.”
“Shouldn't you be used to it by now?”
“Not at all. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing it.”
This night sky, once taken for granted in the distant past, was now so precious and dear.
How many had wept on the day they saw the starlight they thought they would never see again?
Enniha was one of them.
“Dweno, aren't you the one who's too emotionally detached? You were the only one who didn't even bat an eye the day we reclaimed the night sky.”
“No. You may not believe it, but I was deeply moved back then.”
“Lies. You've always been like that.”
The two went back a long way.
To a time long before the Age of Calamity had begun.
“When we first met, you had the look of someone who had lived through it all. I wondered what kind of dwarf you were.”
“I thought the same thing when I first saw you. What kind of elf could be so brazen after being exiled by her own people?”
“I've told you time and again, I wasn't exiled. I walked out on my own.”
“Ah, so that's why you came to the dwarven territory—which was at war with the elves—and boldly requested protection, knowing you'd be dragged back if caught?”
“I told you. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“Do you know you can be unbelievably reckless at times?”
“They insulted my paintings first!”
“*Sigh.*”
“If it had been fair criticism, I would have understood. But how could I accept the tyranny of them trying to make me break my brushes just because I didn't praise our race!”
Enniha’s face contorted into a scowl.
At the time, Enniha's crime was treason against her race.
The reason for the charge was that, as an artist, she did not praise the beauty of the elves and insisted that the art and culture of other races were equal to their own.
Enniha's assertion was tantamount to an all-out rebellion against the authority of elven society.
Moreover, Enniha, who was nothing more than a mere painter and not an elite in elven society, found herself wanted for treason.
And so, fleeing the elven pursuit, she sought refuge with the dwarves.
That was where Dweno and Enniha first met.
Enniha stayed in the dwarven territory for a long time, befriending the dwarves.
And naturally, she learned the dwarven culture.
It was during that time that Enniha, who had no talent for anything other than painting, learned martial arts.
She had a surprising talent for martial arts and grew into a formidable warrior.
“It was a stroke of luck. You, who had little talent for painting, were blessed with Aura and changed your profession to a warrior.”
“I'm a painter, not a warrior!”
“Didn't I tell you back then? To give it up because you'd have a hard time making a living off it.”
“And you! You were moved by one of my paintings!”
“...That last painting you did in the village was certainly beautiful.”
Dweno let out a hearty laugh.
“Enniha. That sunrise you painted was so beautiful.”
“Yes. And you're the one who burned that masterpiece, the greatest work of my life as a painter.”
“Thanks to that, I made a decision. To control my power so I wouldn't turn the world's beautiful things to ash.”
“You thought that?”
Enniha's eyes widened.
“Yes. And thanks to that, I became a little interested in art as well.”
“Wait! Hold on! You've never told me this story before!”
With a bewildered expression, Enniha leaned in close to Dweno.
Dweno looked back at her with an indifferent expression.
“Until just recently, you were saying that art is meaningless in this era.”
“I did think that way. But now my mind has changed. I believe we need works of art worth leaving for future generations.”
“Dweno, are you sick?”
“I'm perfectly fine.”
“Wow...”
“I plan to leave several works for posterity with my own hands.”
“Art isn't easy.”
“No, it certainly won't be. But Enniha, looking at your paintings gives me the confidence that I can do better than you.”
“You...!”
Enniha jabbed Dweno's forehead with her elbow.
“Are you alright?”
“I'm... not... okay! You damned pessimistic dwarf!”
Clutching her elbow and writhing in pain, Enniha ground her teeth.
Watching Enniha, Dweno chuckled and asked.
“What do you think of those kids?”
“Those kids?”
Enniha straightened up and smiled brightly.
“They're not like the kids these days, and it's so good to see. Their eyes are different! Their eyes! How should I put it? It's like they have dreams? Full of hope? Ah! That's it! It's like their futures are sparkling! They're like real kids!”
“Are you saying the children in Ivaldi aren't like kids?”
“Hey! That's not what I mean! I'm saying they're like kids from the old days!”
There were children in Ivaldi, too.
Children born in this era.
Children who didn't know sunlight, moonlight, or starlight.
Pitiful children who cannot see hope or a future.
That was the characteristic of children born in the Age of Calamity.
“That spiritmancer. Artian, was it? Even she, an adult, had different eyes from ours, didn't she? While we were protecting Ivaldi, the world must have regained its hope! That must be why kids like them have appeared, right?”
“...”
“They'll surely be a good influence on the children in Ivaldi!”
“I hope so.”
“But that kid, Leo, he was a little different.”
“...”
“How should I put it? It's like he was the same as us. His eyes weren't like a kid's. He felt similar to you.”
“Similar to me?”
“Yeah. That signature dead-fish gaze of yours was similar.”
“Who are you calling a dead-fish gaze? And Enniha, you lack observation skills. That's why you were never cut out to be a great painter.”
“What did you say?”
“It's true that his gaze was unsettling... but they weren't the eyes of a dead fish. Those were the eyes of someone who never gives up.”
“Is that so? I always thought I was a good judge of character.”
Enniha tilted her head.
“In any case, it's true that we have hope now.”
“Yes.”
“So, Enniha. I will make sure you see the morning sun again.”
“Huh?”
“Didn't you say you desperately wanted to see it? That it was your wish.”
“You still remember that?”
“Of course I do.”
When they reunited in Ivaldi, Enniha had said, ‘I want to see the morning sun again! We can definitely reclaim the morning!’
Nearly twenty years had passed since then.
The world was plummeting into a darkness so profound that it was impossible to even recall the morning sun.
It had become an era where uttering such words, dismissed as useless hope, would only irritate those around you.
In such a situation, seeing the starlight once more allowed people to dream of hope again.
“I swear on my very being.”
Dweno said, clenching his fist.
“I will show you the morning sun.”
“Oh? That's quite ambitious for a pessimistic dwarf!”
Enniha playfully tapped Dweno's temple with her elbow.
“Ugh...”
“Is your elbow okay?”
“It's not okay! You blockhead!”
“It's less sturdy than you are.”
“Ugh.”
“What will you do about that girl, Driana? Are you really going to teach her how to paint?”
“Yes.”
“I think you'd be better off giving up...”
“I'll raise her into a magnificent artist!”
Watching the fired-up Enniha, Dweno said.
“I'm also thinking of passing on my blacksmithing skills to her.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. She had an aptitude for it.”
Dweno grinned.
“First, how to handle the flames.”
“Won't she run away if you're the one teaching her?”
“I'll just catch her again. Where could she possibly run to from here?”
At Dweno's words, Enniha clicked her tongue.
‘Poor girl.’
***
“So I've reached the conclusion that destroying the Legion's Record is the most efficient method.”
In the dead of night, when everyone else was asleep, Kyle sat by the campfire outside the tent and spoke to Leo.
“Right.”
“By the way, what exactly is this hidden mission?”
“It must mean that there's an 'over-achievement' in the Legion's World, too.”
Over-achievement.
It's something you can accomplish in the World of Heroes when you perform a feat greater than what occurred in actual history.
It literally grants a special reward.
A glorious achievement given only to those who make the impossible possible.
At Leo's words, Kyle asked carefully.
“In the actual history, what happens to Ivaldi?”
“Dweno is the sole survivor.”
“Ah...”
At Leo's words, Kyle's expression stiffened slightly.
“The invading demons were?”
“Gias, the Giant King.”
“...As I thought.”
Kyle bit his lip.
The ill-fated encounter from Dweno's world came to mind.
“Just like Luna has a history with the Monster Queen, Dweno has one with the Giant King.”
Until then, Gias was the one who forged the world's greatest armaments.
Before the weapons made by Gias, ordinary armaments would simply shatter.
But the armaments forged in Ivaldi were different.
The only place that could produce weapons capable of standing against the most terrible and powerful armaments in the world.
That was why Ivaldi was special.
Lisinas, too, had desperately hoped the blacksmiths of Ivaldi would join Gardsrone.
But in the end, Ivaldi was destroyed, and Dweno became the sole survivor.
“So, by overcoming that pain, Lord Dweno became a blacksmith who surpassed the Giant King?”
“Yes.”
“But, how should I put it? His aura is different from when I saw him before.”
Kyle tilted his head.
“He was a very warm person back then, but now he feels a bit cold. Did his personality change a lot after joining the Great Hero's party?”
“No, Dweno was a cheerful guy from the moment I met him.”
An eccentric artist who cried out for hope, insisting there was a future and that we had to leave beauty for the next generation.
That was the Dweno who, from our first meeting, laughed while asking Lisinas to be his nude model.
That's why the Dweno of today was a version even Leo had never known.
‘He never talked about his past.’
At the time, I never thought to pry into Dweno's past.
Dweno was just Dweno.
I knew he had suffered enough.
I didn't do it because it felt like needlessly poking at his wounds.
I just thought he was someone with an unyielding nature by birth.
“Your grayness... it reminded me of my past self.”
The first time he told his own story was just before he died.
And in that conversation, Dweno said he disliked Kyle because he reminded him of his past self.
Dweno was the one among his comrades who understood him best.
He had often wondered how Dweno, who was his complete opposite, could understand him so well.
‘Now, that question is finally answered.’
Kyle smiled bitterly.
‘He's so damn similar to me.’
“But to get an over-achievement... wouldn't killing Lord Dweno be an over-achievement for them?”
If Dweno dies here, history changes.
It becomes a history where the world can never be saved.
For Tartaros, that alone is an over-achievement.
But this hidden mission is to capture Dweno alive.
Sometimes, capturing someone is harder than killing them.
Especially for a Great Hero like Dweno.
Seeing Kyle's puzzled expression, Leo explained.
“The Legion's Record is an object where the Legion's history is written over the Hero Record. It's not something from the past, but something being written right now.”
As Leo stared at the campfire, his red eyes glinted fiercely.
“That means they can create the best possible situation for themselves right now.”
“The best possible situation?”
“If a Hero Dungeon goes berserk and consumes the world, it's a disaster for us. The Legion's World is the opposite of the World of Heroes. But here's the thing.”
*Crack— Fwoosh—*
Sparks flew from the campfire.
“Would this dungeon going berserk and encroaching on the world really be a loss for the Legion?”
“...!”
“In a way, it's a gate connecting the Age of Calamity with the present. And the Age of Calamity was an era rampant with all sorts of demons and monsters. The fiends of that era and the fiends of today all share one goal.”
“...The destruction of the world...”
Kyle swallowed hard.
“Exactly. From their perspective, there's no loss even if this dungeon is maintained. In fact, it's the ideal situation. And the biggest obstacle for them is this very fortress.”
Most of the monsters that emerge from the dungeon into reality are annihilated at this fortress.
It's literally a hindrance blocking the entrance.
“Capturing Dweno alive must be the condition that allows this berserk world to be maintained forever.”
“Then... what should we do?”
“Nothing changes. There's only one thing we have to do. Protect Ivaldi so that the history of 5,000 years ago doesn't repeat itself.”
Leo clenched his fist.
“Change history. That's what we have to do.”