Chapter 212
Chapter 212
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 212
Chapter Title: Reunion (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The First Tower Lord of the Ashen Mage Tower, Armiel.
His monumental achievements adorn the Ashen Mage Tower from its entrance all the way to the exhibition hall at the topmost floor, without omission.
From the lowest point to the highest.
From the moment one steps into the Ashen Mage Tower until the moment one leaves... the mages of the tower come to truly appreciate the magnitude of the feats piled up by its First Tower Lord.
And Raniel van Trias is no exception.
The higher the power she gains, the higher she climbs in the tower, the more she realizes just how extraordinary the First Tower Lord truly was.
'It won't break.'
Even after hundreds of years, the golden tower he built shows no sign of crumbling. She can't help but wonder if it's even possible to achieve feats that surpass his.
'That's why it's worth challenging.'
That's what Raniel thought as a child.
When she sat in the seat of Next Tower Lord, Raniel would often spend the end of a long day in the Ashen Mage Tower's exhibition hall. Gazing at the First Tower Lord's robe on display there, she reaffirmed her resolve.
'Surpass the First Tower Lord.'
Achieve feats no one else could dream of.
Build a golden tower taller than the legendary one erected by the First Tower Lord. Become a mage remembered throughout the ages.
That was Raniel's goal.
The First Tower Lord's robe in the exhibition hall was, to Raniel, a symbol of aspiration—a kind of mirror reflecting her distant future self.
So.
It held immense meaning.
It was something she coveted deeply.
It was something she cherished more than anything.
She was a bit disappointed later to learn the First Tower Lord was a "cantankerous old elf," but her longing for that robe remained unchanged.
And by some stroke of chance, Raniel got the opportunity to try it on.
How happy she had been wearing it?
How rare was it for her to feel desire for clothing?
Probably the first time.
Every time she looked in the mirror, a silly grin escaped her lips. Every time she walked and the sleeves fluttered, her mood inexplicably lifted. Just imagining herself in that robe felt like her dream had come true.
And now.
Raniel blinks vacantly.
She's staring at the scrap of fabric in her hand.
Her pupils shake violently as she gazes at the pristine white cloth, sliced clean like a knife cut. More than ever before.
"Ah."
She reaches back and touches her nape.
Her fingers grasp the bunched fabric there, but something feels emptily off. There should be more to wrap her fingers around, but there's not.
'No way, come on, no...'
She tries desperately to deny reality, but it's futile. She tugs the hood down over her head, pressing it firmly, and sees immediately how woefully insufficient the coverage is.
A severed scrap of cloth.
An incomplete robe hood.
Raniel's lips part and close repeatedly. Her shoulders tremble as she bows her head deeply. Then, when she snaps it up... her blue eyes burn with profound rage.
"You fucking..."
A voice quivering with fury.
"You, you, you goddamn..."
Ragged breaths punctuating every syllable.
"———, ——-!"
Kyle's eyes waver for a moment at the crude torrent from Raniel's lips. Realizing curses could be so varied, he instinctively steps back.
"Give it back! Give it back, you bastard!"
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
Raniel lunges at him.
Kyle stumbles backward in an awkward half-raised stance with his holy sword, neither fully drawn nor sheathed.
"The robe. The robe, you bastard! The robe!"
An outburst laced with seething fury.
* * *
Kyle feels considerable confusion at the girl's charging figure. When he didn't know who she was, he could swing his holy sword freely... but now the situation was different.
Lania van Trias.
Kyle remembers the girl's name.
She left such a deep impression from their first meeting, and she's from the same family as that one. In her, Kyle senses traces of his old comrade.
'Is she really not him?'
Though they've faced each other only a handful of times, Kyle feels familiarity from the girl. It's like reuniting with a comrade he's traveled with for ages.
Raniel and Lania.
The Star still whispers in Kyle's ear that they are distinct individuals. Kyle has no intention of doubting the Star's voice. He merely narrows his brows at the charging girl.
'How should I act?'
Now that he's confirmed her face, Kyle can't bring himself to swing at her. An inexplicable aversion holds him back.
Thwack.
In the end, bracing for minor injury, Kyle grabs the girl's wrist. Slender as it is, gripping it earns him a sharp pain in his ribs from an earlier hit.
"Let go."
"......"
"I said let go."
The girl growls. Eyes wide, teeth grinding as if ready to bite. She swings her leg back and kicks Kyle's shin.
Crack!
A sharp crack echoes from Kyle's shin. Frail-looking, yet her kick packs a punch. Kyle winces slightly.
"First, let's talk..."
"Fuck off."
Unable to advance or retreat, with both wrists gripped, the girl's lips begin to move. To Kyle's eyes, it's clearly not for reciting ordinary words.
"■..."
Condensed incantation.
Known as spell language.
Rough mana swirls around the girl. As if she'll self-destruct if he doesn't release her wrists. The surging mana's momentum is ominous.
Thud.
Fortunately, the incantation doesn't complete. Someone has clamped a hand over the girl's mouth. Kyle's hands are occupied with her wrists. So who?
"Stop it."
It was the silver-haired elf who had silently watched until now.
"Do you need to smash all the pillars to feel better? These pillars are relics too. Relics, you young fool..."
Thirty-seven pillars.
Now only a dozen remain, as the elf sighs deeply, pointing them out.
"Just stop already..."
The homeowner, fed up with the vandals trashing his homeland, finally intervenes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
He had planned to leave them be if possible.
They weren't truly trying to kill each other, and Cardi knew well the deep emotional rift between Raniel and her old comrade.
'So I thought I'd let them fight until the tension eased...'
But there's no moderation.
He wonders if he was wrong to expect any from that guy in the first place.
The church underground is a wreck.
The thirty-seven pillars Gleria once proudly boasted of are now down to a dozen.
"This is spinning out..."
Cardi sighs, surveying the surroundings.
"So, that person is..."
"...The Elves' Savior?"
"Yeah, an ancient elf. He's trustworthy..."
Looking around, he sees the Divine Archer earnestly explaining the situation to the Hero. Catching Cardi's eye, she nods slightly.
Nod.
Eyes that say leave it to me.
The effects of her half-hour sermon seem solid. Cardi shifts his gaze, expecting things won't tangle too badly.
'The problem is...'
In the corner of his vision.
'That one.'
Raniel, crouched and spreading the robe on the floor, enters Cardi's view. She's repeatedly stroking the severed hood portion.
"...Hoo."
Sighing wordlessly, she bows her head sullenly, then glares resentfully at the Hero, repeating the cycle for a while.
'The torn robe is mine, after all.'
Why is she the angrier one?
'Incomprehensible, even knowing the full story.'
Cardi shakes his head with another sigh. With her like this, no conversation can proceed.
Step.
Cardi approaches Raniel and pats her shoulder lightly. Raniel looks up at him.
"...What?"
"Just keep the fabric scrap. I'll mend it later."
"Mend it...? Can it even be?"
"Of course. That robe got torn countless times on travels anyway. It was just mended so cleanly no traces remained."
A spark of life returns to Raniel's eyes.
"...You'll really do it?"
"I will. If I don't, who knows what hassle I'd face again..."
Only then does she brush off her knees and stand, naturally draping the robe over her shoulders.
'No getting it back now.'
Cardi sighs, leading Raniel forward—to the Hero conversing with the Divine Archer, more precisely.
"......"
Kyle Toven.
The Hero blessed with the strongest starlight of his era, possessing the greatest talent. He looks at Cardi. Cardi looks back at Kyle.
"...The Elves' Savior, Cardi, was it?"
"Fancy title. Just call me Cardi."
"May I ask something?"
Kyle poses his question.
"Have we met somewhere before? More precisely, when I was... younger."
Cardi's eyes narrow.
'Even with memories gone, he feels the familiarity. Or is his intuition sharp?'
Before Kyle awakened as Hero, Cardi had met him. He'd brought the scavenging Kyle and Raniel from the plaza to his shop.
Raniel chose independence.
Kyle chose to stay at the shop.
And while working at Cardi's shop, Kyle had stumbled toward the truth in the wrong way. Through a loophole that violated the rules.
'Resulting in all his memories flying away.'
Everything related to himself.
The elf named Cardi and all events tied to him.
Memories of those events are perfectly erased from Kyle's mind. Cardi sees no need to prod them. It would only break things further.
"Who knows. First time for me."
"...The Forgotten One, the Star prophesies."
"Fitting, since I'm forgotten by history. Anyway, to the point. Why are you here?"
Cardi says, arms crossed.
"This is an old kingdom's ruin. And the relic of my homeland too. Looks like you forced a path using starlight..."
Cardi's eyes shift to the bone fragment around Kyle's neck. Gleria's finger. Cardi's brow furrows.
"Planning some grave robbing?"
"...It's for humanity."
"Short explanation. Being the Hero doesn't excuse everything. State your purpose clearly."
Kyle glances at Remia beside him.
Remia nods slowly.
"...We're searching for the Star Cup."
Star Cup (星杯).
Cardi's brow tightens at the word. He checks the restrictions upon himself. They deem the Hero before him wholly unqualified.
'How, when he can't even access the contract?'
Cardi has no way of knowing a superhuman pried open the contract's gap through sheer will.
"You plan to take the Star Cup?"
"Yes. It's probably what your group has. We need it."
Kyle touches the hilt of his holy sword.
"With the superhumans absent, the battlefield needs a new one. Humanity keeps losing ground, the front lines retreating daily. We need a superhuman to turn the tide..."
So, we need that Star Cup.
The Hero's voice, cloaked in grand purpose, rings reverent. No tremor in Kyle's speech, honed by oratory.
"Therefore."
Kyle extends his hand.
"I request you hand over the Star Cup."
"Hmm."
Cardi eyes Kyle impassively.
"You're lying."
"...What do you mean?"
"Absence of superhumans, you said?"
Cardi points at Kyle's holy sword.
"Not absence of superhumans. Absence of a Hero."
Beast-like eyes gleam yellow.
"You've contracted with the Star."
Kyle's fingers twitch at the words. Raniel, behind Cardi, narrows her eyes.
"Cardi, what do you—"
"Quiet."
Interrupting Raniel, Cardi faces Kyle. Having contracted with the Star himself, he recognizes the anomaly in the Hero's body.
A different kind of contract from his own.
Yet, he senses the similarity in essence.
"What contract did you make with the Star? What kind of contract..."
Cardi's fingertip shifts from the holy sword to Kyle's heart—the place where starlight should dwell.
"Why isn't the starlight in your heart..."
"Enough."
Kyle cuts Cardi off.
"The contract I made doesn't matter. Will you give me the Star Cup or not? If not, I'll take it from you by force."
Kyle's fingers grip the holy sword.
Cardi sighs at the Hero poised to draw.
"Not just anyone can hold this place's Star Cup. Impossible to take even if you try."
Cardi takes the Star Cup from Raniel.
Holds it before Kyle.
"Take it if you can."
Kyle reaches silently.
But the Star Cup scatters. Only after his hand fully passes through does it reform.
"You can't grasp it."
Cardi states.
Kyle tries again. Same result. The Star Cup disperses at his touch. Even Remia trying yields nothing different.
"You're unqualified. Without nearing the truth, even holding it is impossible."
"...Then."
Kyle reaches out.
His finger points at Lania beside Cardi.
"Why can that girl hold it?"
"You think she's the same as you or me?"
Raniel growls, glaring at the accusing finger as if to bite it off. Ignoring her, Kyle continues.
"And why are you and that girl here? What exactly is she..."
Kyle rubs soot from his forearm. Traces of Ashes to Ashes, a spell only Raniel could use.
"Using the same spells as that guy, Raniel?"
Cardi turns to Raniel.
She wears an it's come to this expression. Nodding slightly, she steps forward. Kyle and Raniel face each other.
"Who the hell are you?"
As Raniel opens her mouth to answer.
-Kyle, is the situation over?!
A voice calls from atop the half-destroyed stairs.
Someone peeks out, looking down. All eyes turn there.
-Should I come down? Coming down!
Saintess Sara.
Before Kyle can speak, she leaps into the chamber. Manifesting holy magic midair, she descends slowly to the ground.
"Hyah."
Landing beside Kyle, she exhales shortly.
"Whew, if it's over, call me quick next time..."
Mid-brush of her collar, Sara's expression freezes. Her gaze fixes on the girl facing Kyle.
"...Huh?"
Sara's eyes widen.
"Y-you!"
She points accusingly at Raniel.
"Aphria's psycho bitch!"
Kyle and Cardi sigh in unison.
The unwinding situation feels like it's tangling further.