Chapter 142
Chapter 142
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Past, Even Farther Past (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A tower built in the distant past.
A library preserving history unrecorded anywhere, forgotten by all.
"……."
Facing the truth, Raniel fell silent.
She had seen so much. It took some time to accept it all, to mull it over.
"…Hoo."
Raniel let out a short breath.
She tilted her head back. Closing her eyes, she gazed at the church ceiling, at the starlight streaming down from it.
'The Calamity of the Four is the first Hero.'
Raniel chewed over that one sentence.
It was no easy thing to accept. To swallow it, she needed to mull it repeatedly. Eyes closed, Raniel sorted her thoughts.
She thought of many things.
She recalled the words left by the Calamities.
Pieced together Cardi's offhand remarks.
Only after thinking, recalling, and piecing it together again... could Raniel accept that single line. She slowly opened her eyes. Quite some time had passed.
"...That’s why."
Raniel murmured.
"That’s why Heroes could be born."
Her gaze turned ahead.
There lay the product of the ancient sage's contract. The current sage, Raniel, faced it.
Four brilliantly shining stars.
Four stars resembling the Hero's starlight orbited in steady paths around the pillar of light. Gazing at them, Raniel pondered.
She had long held a question.
'Why do Heroes keep appearing?'
When one star fades, another is born. In every era, at every moment, a Hero has been born. There may have been gaps... but over the past few centuries, Heroes have steadily left their mark on human history.
Everyone took it for granted.
But not Raniel.
She always questioned the obvious.
'The stars can't keep blessing us forever.'
The stars know neither good nor evil.
They are purely calculative entities. For such beings to always lend humans the power called 'Hero'—Raniel couldn't understand it.
She hadn't understood.
But now, she did.
"From the beginning, there was only one Hero."
The brilliant pillar of light.
At its center, the relic (星勿).
Cardi had placed it here and made a contract with the stars. When that contract was forged, the single light split. Into four stars.
"……."
Raniel silently reached beyond the light.
What she grasped within was a wooden box. Raniel pulled it out.
Creeeak.
Opening the wooden box let out a faint light. What emitted it was someone's arm. Though only bones remained after ages... guessing whose it was wasn't hard.
'The Saintess's arm.'
Not the apostate's, but the Saintess's arm.
Glerea Bell Armias's arm.
Gazing at it, Raniel delved into her memories.
'I've heard of it before.'
Among legends she'd seen researching ancient times, a document on the first Saintess clearly stated:
"The Saintess is a vessel." "A vessel to hold the stars." Raniel looked at the wall.
She read the name engraved there.
"The first Hero, Ganikalt van Galatric."
The Sword of Death, Ganikalt.
The Ganikalt she faced had no starlight left. Even if he had fallen, if he was once a Hero, he should have had starlight in some form.
'But he didn't.'
No starlight remained in him.
He merely scattered shadows.
'Why?'
Raniel asked herself.
She answered her own question.
"Because it's here."
The moment I spoke it.
Starlight gathered in the air. The gathered light formed letters. Formed sentences.
⚙ ANCIENT MESSAGE ⚙ "For whoever faces the truth, I leave these few lines of a letter." It was a letter sent from the distant past to the present.
2.
⚙ LETTER FROM CARDI ⚙ "My name is Cardi van Armiel. Once a member of the Hero Party, now merely a loser. This loser leaves these words... hoping someone will know the truth. We—I, we—failed. You who reached this place must have seen it. Our goals differed, but united in our resolve to hunt the Demon King, we pressed on. The journey was far from smooth. Years long, mentally grinding. At its end, we reached the Demon King. Opened the door to his Shadow Temple. That day, there, that moment—we beheld the Demon King's true form. We fought its curse for ten days and nights. We staked everything we had. We did all we could. And we failed. We reached, but did not touch. We struck, but did not wound. There, we were defeated by the Demon King. In defeat's moment, we thought. We fail now. All our journey turns to naught. But whether this defeat is meaningless... or a foundation for posterity... that is ours to choose. Thus, there we chose. We could not win. Unable to win, we looked to the next. Glerea severed her own arm. Ganikalt placed his starlight there. They entrusted it to me, pleading. You who live near-eternal life, Surely you can find a way. I could not refuse. But nor could I find the way. Impossible for me. Inevitable. I had already failed once. My path was wrong. No certainty the next would not be. Thus, I chose again. The next. As they did in the past. As humans, their kin, have from distant ages. Next, then next again. I resolved to cycle the starlight. Ganikalt's once-brilliant star, I split into four. Reasons may lie in the stars' nature, their power's law... but I shan't explain so. The reason for four is simple. Impossible alone. We four reached the Demon King. When one faltered, another supported. Four, not one, let us continue. Even the strongest crumbles someday. Then, I hope another stands beside. Thus, I split the star into four. Yes, that is the Hero's origin. An eternally cycling wheel. The law I created. This is my third contract with the stars." The letters paused.
After a brief blank, new words appeared.
Less information, more plea.
⚙ FINAL PLEA ⚙ "……I. I know not what era you live in, reading this. 100 years from now? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands. However long, I think I'll live till then. Elves endure ages. Thus, I imagine you arriving here. Are you a Hero? A sword superman like him? Or a mage like me? Whoever you are, I bow and beg you from distant future. Remember. That we existed in the past. Farther back than your past, there, those who sought to seize the Demon King. Please, remember." 'Remember us.'
With those words, the letter ended.
The glowing letters in the air crumbled to dust with a passt. I slowly closed then opened my eyes.
"...Anyway."
The Four Heroes, the Hero Party of Four.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
"This idiot elf should've just said from the start to form parties of four Heroes..."
Why four Heroes?
Because the power originated from one. Knowing that explained why a strong Hero meant a weak next one.
'Power from one.'
A fixed total amount.
Suppressing a leaking sigh, I relaxed my shoulders. Easy to say, but even four Heroes gathering didn't seem promising.
'The Sword of Death... that first Hero was strong not because of starlight.'
I knew from the church's engraved memories.
He was strong before being a Hero.
Already complete before receiving stellar power, he maximized the 'weapon that cuts anything'.
"...Still."
I murmured, gazing at the bones in the wooden box.
"A sure way to kill the apostate."
The Saintess's remains.
The four stars orbited this remains. Even without her bones, the stars orbit endlessly. So why leave them here?
'To hold the starlight.'
Orbiting stars wear down.
Initially strong starlight gradually fades. Nothing lasts forever. Fragments of crumbled stars filled the Saintess's remains.
Not one or two orbits.
'Dozens, hundreds of generations.'
Unimaginably vast time—the stars had rotated. From one next to another. That endless time infused these bones.
Someday.
For whoever arrives after immense time—Cardi's prepared device.
"……."
Before leaving, I looked once more at the church's center.
⚙ ECHOING WORDS ⚙ "Next, then next again." That line circled my mind.
Inevitably. Cardi's words were exactly what I'd always thought.
"Next."
Because impossible alone.
"Next again."
Yet, because I couldn't give up.
"...So my journey isn't meaningless."
The ancient elf trusted the next.
He engraved truth for whoever comes after. Prepared a way to hunt the Calamity. Impossible for him, but possible for future someone—Cardi left it here.
He believed.
If time flows and flows.
Passed on, passed again.
Someday, surely it would reach.
His left possibility is here.
The law of four stars can't be touched. But the Saintess's remains, infused with starlight over centuries, was in my hands.
'Something I can't accept.'
Because my soul is broken.
Worn down, unable to accept.
'Where to use this.'
It was decided from the start.
Wooden box in hand, I stepped out of the tower. With each step, phantoms of past visitors flickered by.
"I hope my sword aids the world." I passed the Hero.
"May none lose family." Passed the shaman.
"May all simply be saved." Passed the Saintess.
"Next, then next again." Stood before Cardi.
Cardi at the door smiled faintly at me. Not ashen, but the silver-haired elf I knew.
"From the past, even farther past..." He pointed at me.
"To you of the future." The phantom scattered.
Through the scattering phantoms, I walked on.
Author's Note Holding strong leads to victory!