Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Kalsmori Library (3)
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[ ……What an astonishing sword. ]
The wraiths readily acknowledged Ban's blade. It was a sword that left them no choice. Though they didn't fully grasp that it was precisely the "Sword that Cuts the Sky," they knew Ban's sword had long surpassed the realm of common sense.
There was no chance of victory. Just by laying eyes on his sword once, they realized he existed in a dimension beyond their own.
Even so, their blades did not easily return to their sheaths. Ban gazed at them with unshaken eyes. He didn't know why they couldn't back down in this situation, but he, too, had no intention of retreating just like that.
The greatest courtesy Ban could offer them was to refrain from striking first. He gave them an opportunity. They could sheathe their swords even now if they wished, or step back if they chose.
[ Have you come for the Guardian's Sword? ]
"That is correct."
[ And what do you intend to cut with that sword? ]
"I intend to cut what must be cut."
Ban answered quietly.
"It's been too long since I've done anything at all."
[ ……Humans still seek to change the world, do they? ]
The wraith sighed. They were beings who had ended up as mere remnants of the past, forever recording it. In his somber voice, he asked,
[ Do you know how many have claimed they would change the world? ]
"Are you saying the world cannot be changed?"
[ It can change. It is possible. But in no moment…… can it ever be perfect. ]
"Even so, I believe striving for perfection is human nature. ……And my desire to change the world isn't born from a wish for a perfect one. It's because there are people I must protect."
[.......]
The wraiths circled silently around Ban. Even amid the conversation, his stance never wavered. It was a sight that revealed how long he had wielded the sword and how completely he had devoted his life to it. They, who bore the blood of the Seonwoo Clan, knew this was not something achievable merely by hearing the Voice of the Sword.
They slowly exchanged glances with one another. Then, as if resigned, they sheathed their blades. Continuing to fight might have been an option, but there was no reason to go that far. Ban followed suit, sheathing his sword as he asked,
"Was that a test?"
[ ……No, mere bravado. ]
One of them replied.
[ To scare you off and drive you away. ]
§
Why had they tried to drive him away? Rather than seeking an answer, Ban chose to follow them. The Kalsmori Library bustled not just with them, but with countless other librarians. Or more precisely, wraiths.
"……I figured there would be lingering regrets aplenty."
But he hadn't expected this many. The Kalsmori Library brimmed with the souls of the dead. Some sorted books as indifferently as they had in life, while others sat motionless, doing nothing at all. And some stared at him in silence.
Their reasons varied, but they were all peculiar. Then again, wraiths could hardly appear normal by nature, so perhaps their oddity was to be expected. They were strange, and in that strangeness, they were normal.
Perhaps his own parents were truly here somewhere. Filled with an inexplicable fervor, Ban scrutinized each wraith's face. And only then did he realize he didn't even know what his parents looked like.
"I have a question."
[ About your parents? ]
One wraith turned to him, as if already knowing everything. Ban nodded. Excitement he couldn't hide colored his voice.
"......Are they here?"
He hoped they were, and yet hoped they weren't. The wraith gazed at him steadily.
[ A wraith is ultimately just dregs. ]
He said in a low voice.
[ Even if they were here, they wouldn't be your parents. ]
"Even so, I want to see them. I grew up without even glimpsing those remnants. Don't I need voices and faces to remember as well?"
[ ……Do you see those? ]
At the wraith's question, Ban turned his head. A wall studded with countless wooden plaques came into view. Recognizing what they were was no difficult task.
"……The Seonwoo Plaques."
[ On the eve of destruction, amid the frantic escape, not a single librarian forgot to affix their plaque to that wall. ]
"Are my parents' among them?"
[ See for yourself. ]
"……First, I must meet the Guardian, and then……"
[ He is not here. He won't return for some time. ]
The wraith replied. It didn't sound like a lie. As Ban stared at him, the wraith offered a wistful smile.
[ It seems you have plenty of time now. ]
§
"……I never imagined I'd get to see the Seonwoo Plaques."
"'Plaques.'"
Ban wore an odd expression. They referred to the entire wall adorned with Seonwoo Plaques simply as the "Seonwoo Register." He fiddled with the Seonwoo Plaque tucked in his bosom. Hwan, who had glanced at him, asked quietly,
"Did you write anything on your plaque?"
"……No."
"I did once…… but it felt so wrong that I scratched it off with my sword."
Hwan gazed at the plaques with a peculiar look.
"It's strange, isn't it? When I wrote that phrase, I thought nothing could represent my life better…… Yet within months, it started feeling utterly trite."
"Life is ever-changing, after all."
"By that logic, shouldn't they give each person five plaques or so? One for each pivotal moment in life."
Ban made no reply. He was looking down at the two plaques in his hand.
"'Charcoal says: The moment the flame is lit, kindling loses its value. Yet without igniting it, charcoal has no worth.'"
"'Suya says: My husband is a fool.'"
"......What peculiar folks."
Ban murmured. His father's seemingly profound words lost their luster in an instant, overshadowed by his mother's. Yet somehow, that made the phrases feel all the more alive and breathing. Was it merely his affection for them? Or something else?
[ Staring at those plaques again, are you? ]
It was then. A wraith with a pipe in his mouth approached and looked down at them. His name was Baek. Baek met Ban and Hwan's gazes with a smile.
[ Strange things, aren't they? Dismiss them as nonsense scribbles, and that's all they are. But think of them as the one phrase a person leaves behind for their entire life…… and suddenly they seem to hold profound meaning. ]
"……Is yours here too?"
[ Who knows. Maybe. ]
"Where is it?"
[ Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. Who shows their diary to others? ]
Baek's words made a certain sense. Ban watched the wraith's pipe burn away. Do wraiths smoke? If so, was that tobacco from the living world or the afterlife?
"Kindling loses its value the moment the flame touches it, yet only gains it when ignited, my father said."
[ Indeed. Then what of the sword? ]
"……By my father's logic, a sword would lose its value when stained with blood…… and regain it only when stained once more."
In a way, it echoed Ropo's teachings. A sword perfected by not cutting. How long would it take him to reach that blade even Ropo had never attained?
He longed to meet the Guardian as soon as possible. He couldn't know how much of the answer that sword held, but it was certain to contain more than any other in this world.
"When will the Guardian return?"
[ How should I know? The Guardian would know. ]
"……I thought this place would feel a bit more desolate."
He hadn't accounted for the wraiths' presence. Perhaps that's why he imagined the Guardian guarding the library in lonely solitude. At that thought, Baek wagged a finger.
[ Don't think the presence of wraiths means he's not lonely. ]
"……At least he has company for conversation, doesn't he?"
[ Company? ]
Baek chuckled as if he'd heard something amusing, then shook his head.
[ In the eyes of the one man who held his sword and guarded this library while others cried to abandon it, how do you think we wraiths appear? ]
"......."
[ We are not his family. Or more precisely, it's better to say he doesn't see us that way. ]
We are criminals.
Baek muttered. Ban silently gazed at the plaque in his hand. If they were criminals, had his parents been criminals too? It was a topic he had no desire to dwell on.
His parents were certainly not in the library. If they had been, they would have appeared before him by now. He could wander the halls searching, but for the moment, Ban focused on the task at hand.
He waited for the Guardian day after day. Two months passed, perhaps even longer. In a place where the sun never rose, keeping track of days was no easy feat.
And it was around then. One day, as he slept amid the unguessable darkness of morning or night, Ban quietly opened his eyes. No thunderous roar or hand had awakened him—his swordsman's instinct alone stirred him.
He gathered his swords. Ropo's Bamboo Sword. Wilrn's Short Tachi. Yuri's Broadsword. The Longsword inhabited by Kishin. And the Guardian forged by Yujin. With all five swords at his waist, Ban stepped out of the room and sat before the library entrance, awaiting his opponent in silence.
His skin prickled. A terrifying aura poured from his foe, one that would tear him apart the instant his focus slipped.
Their eyes met when the man rounded the library wall and stood at the entrance, but they had sensed each other long before.
The man looked haggard. Unshaven beard and wild hair grew thickly, and his ragged clothes—unlike the wraiths' tidy attire—evoked the vast time since the North's fall.
He walked. Advancing toward Ban with indifferent steps, as if Ban were invisible, Ban slowly rose.
"……Pleased to meet you. I am Ban."
Ban greeted first. The man regarded him wordlessly. Eyes worn by ages took in the swords at Ban's waist and the calluses on his hands.
"……Hmph."
"!"
The moment the man stroked his beard, Ban drew Yuri without a second thought. He swung it at empty air with full force.
And as payment, he tumbled across the ground, covered in dirt.
'……What was that?'
His mind reeled from the sudden impact. He couldn't even tell what had been unleashed. No—he hadn't deflected it. It was too vast a strike to parry, beyond his perception.
Ban bit his lip. No words were needed; their brief clash had made that clear. He recalled every experience he'd endured, every lesson from the swordsmen who had taught him, their lives and weights. Even against the Guardian, he should at least be able to "endure."
'No, that's wrong.'
The man approached. The swordsman approached. Only now did Ban feel he understood what a true "swordsman" was. No matter the sword, the path, or the swing, no openings appeared.
An irresistible, absolute violence advanced slowly, eyes dull.
The man twisted his lips.
"Pathetic."
That was their first encounter.