Chapter 345
Chapter 345
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 345
Chapter Title: Ka■■ (6)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ...Creak, grind.
Something twisted with a groan.
The hour hand, frozen for centuries, began to move. The clamor of dust-caked, rusted gears turning was deafening. At the screeching noise, a mage who had lived for hundreds of years opened her eyes.
"......"
Cardi van Armiel.
The great sage instinctively sensed a change in her contract with the stars. The contract had shifted. One more being was now bound to it. It was far from good news. Cardi let out a long sigh.
"...So it's come to this, after all."
The star whispered to her.
A new calamity had appeared.
Though it was just a single line from the star, Cardi understood the full context behind it. She had no choice but to. She had heard it all from the lips of the one who came from the future.
'Raniel failed to persuade Kyle.'
In the end, she had chosen the second plan.
Cardi felt a bitter pang at the fact. Even though she had anticipated it, even though she had hoped for it deep down.
It was inevitable.
What lay before the current Raniel was the very path Cardi herself had walked. No one knew better than Cardi how horrific that path was. And yet, despite knowing...
'She said it had to be done.'
The Raniel from the future had spoken.
If the first plan failed, this was the only way left. She knew how horrific it was, but she had no choice but to proceed.
It was a tragedy.
A tragedy she had hoped would never repeat after her own tale ended. Cardi gazed up at the stars in the night sky with a complicated look. Bitter as it was, she couldn't sit there forever.
It was time to move.
She had said she would return ten days after the calamity's birth. What Cardi needed to do in those ten days. She knew the answer to that question.
"First, I need to bring her here."
Cardi donned her robe.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
The sun had long set, and stars twinkled in the night sky, yet one person was still tormented by unfinished work. In the empty office after everyone else had left, Kalt sorted documents with hollow eyes and reached for his coffee mug.
It was already empty.
Kalt leaned back in his chair with a short sigh. Nothing resolved smoothly, leaving him with a suffocating frustration.
'Still no word from Senior...'
There was no real update from Raniel, bedridden in the hospital. Even when he offered to visit, all he got back was refusal. She was the type who would normally brush it off and bounce back.
"Hoo..."
As Kalt sighed and toyed with the mug, he sensed a presence at the end of the hallway. His eyes narrowed. It felt off.
All the Hounds had clocked out, and he was the only one left in the building. So why the presence?
The footsteps were steady.
The corridor was lined with anti-intrusion magic tools, so how? Kalt hurriedly checked the crystal orb linked to them. Every step the intruder took severed the connection to the tools in range.
'Not severed.'
They were being smashed.
Shwick!
Something flew from a blind spot and struck a tool—end of story. With a crunch, several more shattered.
'Like getting sniped...'
Uncommon skill.
Kalt's eyes narrowed further.
"......"
He gripped the sword hilt hanging on the wall.
The presence stopped at the door.
As Kalt steadied his breath, ready to lunge, someone knocked politely. Polite for an intruder.
'...Some lunatic?'
Kalt blinked.
The door creaked open. At the sight of the figure, his eyes widened.
"Hello, human."
She waved from the doorway.
"The great ancestor wants you to come."
"...Lady Remia?"
The Divine Archer, Remia.
At the unexpected intruder's identity, Kalt let out a hollow laugh and released the hilt.
"You were the intruder, Lady Remia?"
"Intruder?"
"Yes. Whatever for?"
"I'm not intruding."
"Pardon?"
"Huh?"
Remia tilted her head.
Kalt blinked and asked again.
"Didn't you smash all the security magic tools?"
"Those target-looking things?"
"...Yes?"
"They were flashing red, so I broke them all. Hurt my eyes. Elves are sensitive to visual stimuli like that."
She pressed her eye corners with an absentminded look, mimicking eye strain. Watching her, Kalt thought:
...Is she nuts?
Luckily, he didn't voice it. Instead, he followed Remia out of the building. How far had they walked?
"You're here."
Deep into the night.
An elf stood before a carriage parked outside the city walls. One Kalt had crossed paths with a few times through his senior. The ancient elf named Cardi.
"Get in first. I'll explain on the way."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Inside the swiftly moving carriage, Cardi spoke. The explanation was brief, with many gaps.
"So."
But Kalt was used to such accounts.
He grasped the situation quickly and spoke.
"We have to go rescue Senior from the space where the calamity dwells... Is that it?"
"That's right."
"Why is Senior there?"
"Because that calamity saved her."
Cardi answered curtly.
Kalt's eyes narrowed.
"...A calamity saving someone? What kind of nonsense is that?"
"......"
"The Sword of Death, Skeval... let alone that apostate lunatic. None of them would save anyone. They only kill and destroy..."
Mid-sentence, Kalt shut his mouth.
He saw the elf's expression harden. Perceptive Kalt waited silently for her to speak.
"Censorship... better than expected."
Fine, I'll tell you.
Cardi murmured and opened her mouth.
"Kyle Toben."
The strongest hero.
"That fool became the new calamity. In exchange for saving Raniel van Trias."
"...Pardon?"
Kalt blinked, unable to process. Cardi continued.
"It's complicated to explain, but that's the result. Kyle Toben is the calamity... and I plan to retrieve Raniel from the domain where he's staying."
"What does that even..."
It made no sense.
But Cardi offered no further explanation, as if that was enough. Instead of details, she said something else.
"It hasn't been long since he became a calamity. His ego should still be strong. He won't attack us on sight when we enter the domain."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes. Betraying one's soul isn't easy. His egos are probably clashing right now. It'll take at least ten days before he fully activates."
The intel was detailed.
Cardi laid out the specific plan. Even without full understanding, Kalt grasped the operation. That's how thorough it was.
"You know a lot about calamities..."
"I have to."
Cardi replied shortly.
"I've experienced it all."
The time it takes for a human to become a calamity.
When a betrayed human starts fully operating.
The reactions in the early stages of betrayal.
Cardi knew it all. She might not have found answers, but no one had studied calamities more deeply. She hadn't imagined that knowledge would be used like this... but anyway.
"That's it."
Finishing, Cardi exhaled briefly.
As she did, she glanced at Kalt. The sharp-minded Hound had likely understood. The problem was the empty-headed elf beside him. Glancing at Remia, Cardi spoke.
"...Do you get it, Remia?"
"Yes."
Remia nodded.
"Don't provoke Kyle and just rescue Raniel. That's how I understood it."
"Anything else bothering you?"
"I don't grasp the intent of the question."
"About Kyle Toben becoming a calamity. Your former comrade..."
"Hm..."
Remia stroked her chin.
After brief thought, she said:
"Doesn't matter."
She smiled.
"It was just a fling anyway."
Kalt, sitting beside her, swallowed hard.
Cardi frowned.
Their reactions were far from disgust. Remia's awkward voice. Her exaggerated tone. Anyone could see she was lying.
'A lie.'
Kalt and Cardi sensed it.
But they didn't call her out.
"Fine if you're okay."
"I am. I'm an elf, after all."
Remia nodded and said:
"To elves who live eternally, humans are but a fleeting amusement. I remember the teachings our great ancestor Cardi emphasized to us time and again."
Cardi fell silent.
It was what she had taught Orbel, and what the previous elder had taught her. Elves were an eternal race. To them, humans with their momentary lives were poison.
Never love humans.
Never love them truly.
All that remains is excruciating solitude.
Humans' burning-short lives captivate elves. They leave indelible marks on eternal existences. It's poison. An incurable deadly toxin.
'...It makes you cling to the past.'
You yearn for the past.
You drown in memories of time with humans. The moment eternal beings obsess over the past, ruin comes in an instant.
The previous elder had experienced it.
And Cardi had to experience it firsthand.
That's why she warned against repeating her regrets... but looking at the somewhat dim-witted descendant before her, Cardi smiled wryly. Advice was just advice, after all.
"I see."
You won't understand until you experience it yourself.
"Fine if you're okay."
You've fallen too, haven't you?
He's left an indelible mark on you.
Poor thing, Cardi murmured inwardly.
"Thanks for cooperating, Divine Archer."
"...An honor to help my benefactor."
Silence hung for a while.
The carriage arrived at its destination after some time. Near the ruins of the old Seleph Kingdom. They set foot in a colorless forest by the fallen ancient realm.
3.
Ka■■ recalls.
Who he was.
What he must do.
He recalls and recalls, but his thoughts won't connect properly. Thoughts snapping off abruptly. Disjointed cognition. Looking around yields nothing. In pitch black where nothing is seen or heard, Ka■■ recalls relentlessly.
What he must do.
The promise he must keep.
In the darkness, he sees a rising handful of ash. Gazing at it, he thinks: ashen. Ash. A handful of ash. That is his goal.
The reason he must resist.
But against what?
And how?
He doesn't even know what to resist or what to cut down. His mind is muddled. Amid the murk, the shadow whispers in his ear.
Kill.
Kill what? Ka■■ asks.
The ash, the shadow replies.
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