Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Traces Left by the Catastrophe (8)
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Ancient kingdom Arcadia.
Cardi's homeland.
When we set out on this journey, Cardi told me there were three main purposes for heading to his homeland. Now that we've reached the end of our travels, I recall those three.
"The search for the Grail."
"There will be a way to heal the eyes of your subordinate, that hunting dog named Kalt."
One: the search for the Grail.
A treasure created by the ancient kingdom, one that could turn someone into a superhuman without losing anything in the process. Retrieving it was the first goal of this journey.
'Turn Kalt into a superhuman.'
If he transcended humanity to become a superhuman, there would be far more ways to heal his lost eye. We might even be able to settle things with me and the Black Tower Lord without dragging Sara into it.
And so, I obtained the Grail.
With the first goal achieved, I moved on to the next. Beyond the scars left by the catastrophes... I walked and walked toward the heart of the ancient kingdom.
"The second truth."
"Understanding the Demon King's origins and the shadows."
"That's the information I need to uncover here."
Two: reach the second truth.
The second of the three contracts Cardi made with the stars long ago, and the second of the three erased histories. I came to understand it in the depths of ancient kingdom Arcadia.
The Demon King's origins.
Understanding the shadows.
The existence of the first mad one.
I saw hell and understood the meaning contained within it. Through that understanding, I touched the truth. I no longer saw the shadows as something incomprehensible.
It was humanity's screams and grudges.
Now that I knew its true nature, I constantly recalled the circuits I had engraved in my mind. I reflected on the Cursed Mana I had created.
'Circuits and mana made simply to break something without understanding the target.'
Understanding now dwelled within them.
I had succeeded in grasping the clue to move forward next. It would take a little time, but the path ahead was now much clearer.
"Three years, Ashen Mage."
"That's the time given to you, and the time I need before I can move on."
The direction was clear.
I knew what I had to do.
And so, I reaffirmed my goal.
'Raise the next Hero to illuminate an era where the fires have gone out.'
That was the goal I had set in Aphria.
If Kyle couldn't do it, I would train other Heroes to achieve what he couldn't. I would fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to me by countless knights as they died.
That was the path I had to walk.
That path required many things, and when I first envisioned it in my mind, it seemed utterly impossible. But not anymore.
'The children have talent.'
The children I chose had talent.
'There is starlight for those children.'
There were the Saintess's arms to draw out that potential.
'And even the Grail is now in my hands.'
I even had the means to make them superhumans without loss.
'So, it's possible.'
Now I could say that.
Because so much had gathered in my hands.
It was no longer a delusion. It was possible.
Truly, if given enough time, it was a path that could be walked. Even as I felt joy in that possibility, I couldn't shake a lingering worry in one corner of my heart.
'Everything for those children has come together.'
But more than anything, there was something I lacked.
'The time I have left.'
My lifespan.
The fact that the time given to me was not much had always held me back. That was why the final goal of this journey was to resolve it.
The third purpose of coming to Arcadia.
"There is a way to stop the leakage of your lifespan."
"That's the reason for heading to Arcadia."
Three: a means to stop the lifespan's leakage.
With the achievement of our goals in sight, I slowly opened my mouth.
"...So that's the answer?"
I pointed to the potion in Cardi's hand.
Cardi nodded at my question.
"Yes, this is a sort of 'reference material' I can give you now that you've unraveled the truths tied to Arcadia."
He shook the potion in his hand.
"After Glerea, Belial, and Ganikalt fell to corruption, I kept researching. In countless directions."
Cardi pointed to the research materials scattered around the room.
"Nullifying contracts, purifying souls, turning traitors back into humans, unilaterally breaking contracts, defying the providence set by the stars..."
Countless directions.
The traces of a mage's agonies in search of answers resembled branches spreading from a single purpose. And those branches...
"And among them was this."
Not all, but at least one had borne fruit.
"A way to repair worn souls."
"...Repairing souls?"
"Yes, whether they become shadows or stars... those who reach for the unattainable will have cracks in their vessels. A cracked vessel can't function properly."
Cardi pointed at me.
"Your vessel is the same. You're not a vessel meant to hold stars, yet you've held them time and again. And exposure to curses only widened the cracks."
"...That's true."
"Life leaks from the cracks in the vessel. That's likely why your remaining time is draining faster."
These were things I already knew.
I knew, but couldn't fix them myself... so I had simply accepted it.
"This is holy oil to repair the broken vessel."
Holy oil.
"The holy water Glerea used to save humanity, concentrated into one. It was originally meant to restore her, but..."
Cardi gave a bitter smile.
"It seemed it wouldn't work on her. I realized the moment I saw her. Her soul wasn't just worn—it had completely transformed."
The fruit born at the end of his research.
Yet something he could no longer use, Cardi handed to me. I carefully accepted it.
"Looks like it's finally found its use."
As he handed over the holy oil, Cardi's bitter smile wasn't entirely bitter. Perhaps he was glad that his research results weren't entirely in vain.
"......"
I gazed at the potion for a moment, then reached out and uncorked it.
Pop.
Then I tilted the potion and took it into my mouth. A faint starlight slid down my throat. Even after hundreds of years, the potion retained a slight warmth.
'...It's warm.'
A warmth like being enveloped by the body spread through me.
It took a little time for the potion to seep into my body, and after a few minutes of silence, I slowly spoke.
"Breathing feels a bit easier."
"There are no such side effects."
"Just feels that way."
No dramatic changes occurred in my body.
Just... breathing felt a bit easier, and my body felt a little lighter. Was that all?
"That's what's visible outside the body."
I traced my finger through the air.
A balance scale appeared before me, and placing my hand on it, I calculated my remaining assets.
"The changes in the soul are even greater."
The soul had been repaired.
The cracked and worn soul was slowly regaining its form.
'The traces of wear remain.'
But the cracks had been perfectly sealed.
No more lifespan would leak through the fissures. Honestly, it was astonishing.
"...It's close to a miracle."
The sand that had already fallen wouldn't return, but the sand that had been draining at an alarming rate had regained its normal pace. And so, I calculated my remaining time inwardly.
"It's enough."
Enough time to achieve my goals.
'And...'
One more chance had been granted.
Without voicing that fact, I let out a faint smile.
"Thank you, Cardi."
"...I think I should be the one thanking you."
At my words, Cardi let out a short breath.
He leaned against the desk cluttered with all sorts of materials and looked up at the ceiling.
"In the end, it was research that couldn't be used anywhere."
He spoke while gazing at the traces of his failed research.
"I didn't find the answers, it failed, and bound by my contract with the stars, I couldn't pass it to anyone else. So all the time I spent here became utterly meaningless."
Worthless time.
And the emptiness he must have felt.
His hollow gaze swept the room before turning back to me.
"Not anymore."
He smiled at me.
"The fact that the long time I spent here... can help someone, that it wasn't meaningless—I’m glad. Truly."
Snap. Cardi snapped his fingers.
The materials scattered everywhere, the traces of alchemy, the fragments of failed research—all turned into streams of light and gathered in one place. The brilliant platinum starlight coalesced into a single book.
"It contains all the records of my research."
Cardi held the book out to me.
"I hope this helps you too."
I took the book in hand.
Looking at the words written on the first page of a book that had wandered ownerless for ages, I gave a bitter smile.
"For the next."
The next, and the next again.
It reminded me of the phrase I’d seen in the northern tower.
"You really like saying 'the next,' huh."
"Understand. After a long journey, you pick up one or two verbal habits from your companions."
"Pick up?"
"Glerea, Ganikalt, Belial. Those three repeated it endlessly in front of me."
With a voice tinged with a hint of nostalgia, Cardi said.
"The next, and the next again."
That's the way humans live.
With those words, Cardi straightened from where he’d been leaning on the desk.
"Well then, shall we go?"
I nodded.
All the goals to accomplish in Arcadia had been fulfilled.
Now, it was time to return.
2.
The journey back to the capital across the ashen lands was remarkably peaceful, with nothing worth calling an incident.
'Incidents? Well...'
We did sweep away some illegal street vendors who had set up shop near the ashen lands... but to Raniel, that hardly qualified as an incident.
"Setting up checkpoints on land with a clear owner and collecting tolls? And opening a market here? Now that I look again, it's outrageous. Who do these lowlifes think they—"
The ancient elf sang his rage.
"Huh? Then we sweep them away?"
Raniel merely swung her fist a few times.
Some illegal residents who lost their homes resisted with spears and swords... but it didn't last long.
"Kaaaaah!"
Before a mage who could uproot entire buildings with a single swing... ordinary spears and swords were no better than toothpicks.
"We ask for nothing grand. Just spare our lives."
"We won't set foot here again. We're sorry, so sorry, so very sorry..."
The underworld entrenched in the ashen lands, the gray wasteland.
The incident ended with the figure called its leader prostrating at Cardi's feet.
'It ended anticlimactically.'
Not even a full day—less than half a day.
In that short time, an underworld boasting nearly a century of history met its end. A terribly hollow conclusion, but history built by humanity is worthless before a catastrophe anyway.
Even the ancient kingdom Arcadia had turned to ashes in half a day.
Aphria's nightmare had set foot in the slums, so their destruction was a foregone conclusion.
"Yaaawn."
And the nightmare let out a lazy sigh.
Riding in the carriage toward the capital, she propped her chin and gazed out the window. The carriage rattled forward, drawing ever closer to the capital.
'About three weeks, I guess.'
Not exact, but around that.
She'd only been away from Aphria Academy briefly, yet it felt like an eternity had passed.
Three weeks—long if long, short if short.
"Wonder if Kelrhalhm's doing okay."
Raniel muttered suddenly.
She'd set up so many safety measures that she wasn't too worried... but Kelrhalhm was still a madman by reputation.
'Someone whose thinking is different from others.'
Attending classes under such a person must be excruciating. Imagining students suffering through over-the-top lessons made tears well in her eyes.
"...Gotta get back soon."
The students must miss her too.
The thought of standing at the podium again, giving lectures, and assigning homework made her fingers itch.
As Raniel cracked her itching fingers with crack, crack sounds, Cardi's eyes narrowed as he glared at her.
"......"
"What?"
A gaze like prey eyeing a crocodile's tears.
Raniel tilted her head and asked back.
"Why the look? Something to say?"
"...Not long ago, Chloe was screaming."
"Screaming? Why?"
"Too much homework. A ton."
"Pfft, that's all?"
Raniel waved it off with a laugh.
"Such whiners."
Where else was there a professor as kind as her?
Muttering that, Raniel smiled.
"They must all miss me for sure, right?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"...Why are you back so early?"
"Pardon?"
Aphria's chief dean's office.
Aaron, seated there, eyed Lania, who had returned from vacation a week early—and he didn't look pleased about her return at all.
"Didn't you take a month off? You should rest the remaining week too."
"...Pardon?"
Lania blinked.
"No, the students are waiting for me, so I need to get back to classes..."
Mid-sentence, Lania glanced out the window. Laughter from students—ha ha ho ho—had been coming from outside since earlier.
-Ah, like this... is that right?
-Yes. You're doing well.
-Professor Resti, I have a question too...
-Professor, mine too!
In the garden visible from the dean's office window.
A young professor sat on the bench best bathed in sunlight, surrounded by female students as he reviewed their homework.
-As expected from Professor Resti!
-I wish Professor Resti would teach us all the time...
A truly heartwarming sight.
Heartwarming... but.
"Uh...?"
Lania's pupils shook as if an earthquake had hit. She turned her creaking head to look at Dean Aaron. Meeting Lania's demanding gaze, Aaron merely nodded slightly.
"...That's how it is."
Lania instinctively sensed something was gravely wrong.
Author's Note
NTR...!
I've included plenty :D
*Resti is the alias Kelrhalhm uses at Aphria.