Chapter 289: Fragments of the Past – Silderay (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 289: Fragments of the Past – Silderay (2)
Urgh…!
Jin, who had been reaching for the black bead and the greatsword fragment, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
The delayed shock finally hit him the moment his extremely tense body relaxed.
Pluto's Sovereign Sword was a technique far too taxing to use before mastering all three stages: Opening, Transition, and Conclusion.
Chills and pain surged up his spine. A searing heat, like a ball of fire, erupted from his injured organs, and his broken bones screamed in agony.
He sat cross-legged and took a moment to steady himself. He gently suppressed the aura that threatened to flow in reverse and pushed a minimal amount of lightning energy into his empty Heart of Light.
“Phew…”
The pain gradually subsided. He felt he could at least manage to walk and run now.
He was concerned about whether he could return to peak condition before the Black Knight assassination mission, but compared to what he had gained from this tomb, such a price was nothing.
He had met and fought the progenitor of the Black Knights, experienced a lost ultimate technique, and caught a glimpse of a thousand-year-old secret—a secret concerning the manifested Solderet and the very founders of Runcandel.
—[He told me not to be flustered, no matter what happens. Those were the words Solderet wanted me to pass on to you.]
Picon Minche hadn’t been exaggerating when he revealed the tomb’s location. In some ways, what Jin had experienced here in Baolai, Temar’s first tomb, was even more shocking than his regression.
‘…Solderet designated me as his contractor a thousand years ago. That’s something I was already aware of, to some extent.’
The thousand-year contractor. A contractor chosen a millennium ago.
He suddenly recalled the day he first met Murakan at Storm Castle.
—Hey… Solderet. You’re joking, right? This isn’t it. Say something. Why is the promised thousand-year contractor a mere brat like this…
—[I am Murakan. Solderet’s proxy, his close friend, and the last descendant of the first being forged from shadows. In accordance with the thousand-year promise, I shall be with you from this day forward. State your name.]
Murakan wasn't the only one who had spoken of the thousand-year contractor upon seeing him. Klam, the God of Magic, had said something similar when they first met, as had Misha.
‘But Murakan, Lady Misha, and Klam only knew that I was the contractor chosen a thousand years ago. None of them seemed to know that Solderet already knew my name when he chose me.’
In the vision of the past he glimpsed within the subspace, Solderet had instructed Temar never to tell Murakan or Misha about Jin’s name.
Why?
Jin had been chosen a thousand years ago, and everyone deeply connected to Solderet knew that fact.
‘Temar heard my name from Solderet. By extension, Sir Silderay probably did as well. So why on earth did he hide my name from the guardian dragons and Klam?’
It didn't add up. The grey sphere’s vision offered no clues.
‘Solderet, who took precautions for a thousand years into the future, wouldn't have hidden my name from them without a reason.’
It wasn't just precautions for a thousand years later. Solderet had left arrangements with the Pluto Tribe, who had perished five thousand years ago, and even with Klam, a forgotten god from an era closer to the dawn of time.
All for him. For Jin.
By a rough estimate, Solderet’s arrangements predated the entire recorded history of humanity.
‘There must be a reason. It’s just not something I can figure out right now.’
It was highly likely that Solderet had left similar arrangements and messages elsewhere. He could probably figure out the reason for the anonymity as he encountered them.
The issues truly troubling Jin’s mind were something else entirely.
‘Even though Solderet had chosen me as his contractor a thousand years ago, he didn't show any sign of it when he contracted with me in my previous life.’
—[Contractor, it seems you earned someone’s resentment when you were very young. You haven't been able to draw out your power due to a trivial curse. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to you.]
—[Now all that remains is for you to become an unparalleled magic swordsman, contractor. It will be a pleasure to watch.]
Considering Solderet already knew and had chosen him, his reaction at the time of their contract was a clear contradiction.
‘Back then, Solderet even told me that, contrary to public belief, he was originally the God of Swords and Shadows. He didn't reveal why he left Runcandel, though…’
Jin’s heartbeat quickened as he remembered the second vision from the subspace.
Temar dying in his sickbed, and Silderay calling Solderet a traitor in a fit of rage.
Betrayal.
In fact, after Temar, Solderet had never once served as Runcandel’s guardian deity until Jin appeared. He had consistently contracted with mages—primarily from Zipple—to the point that he was widely perceived as Zipple’s patron god.
‘If it was betrayal, for what purpose? If it wasn't betrayal, then why did Solderet abandon Runcandel for a thousand years? Why go so far as to become the god of their enemy…?’
Every action has a purpose. That was as true for a god as it was for a human.
Leaving Runcandel, returning to it, choosing him of all people, and all his other incomprehensible actions… in the end, they must all have been necessary choices made to serve some greater goal.
‘…It’s highly likely my regression was also Solderet’s doing. What does he want?’
That was a question he hadn’t seriously considered for a long time. He had once dismissed it as unimportant.
Regardless of Solderet’s purpose for granting him a second chance, Jin had decided to follow his own desires and will. As a result, he naturally came to desire the Runcandel throne and the destruction of Zipple. He burned with an intense desire to become a warrior who surpassed his father and reached the pinnacle of the world.
He had never doubted his ability to realize that future.
Until today, when he caught a glimpse of Runcandel’s ancient history in Temar’s first tomb.
‘According to the vision, Zipple possessed a power so immense that even Temar feared it. It’s unclear whether the moment Temar lay on his deathbed was before or after the war, but in the end, he lost.’
Even the Creation Knight who led the strongest clan of magic swordsmen in history could not overcome the wall that was Zipple.
While the "Tower of Stories," where three hundred dragons had gathered, still stood strong, Runcandel’s history had been erased, and they had even lost their abilities as magic swordsmen. The gap between the two powers had widened even further since Temar's defeat.
‘Sir Silderay’s mention of betrayal is also bothering me. Temar seemed to trust Solderet until the very end, but was that trust ever rewarded?’
There was no place for Temar in the Runcandel Mausoleum, and not a single line about Silderay remained in any history book. As of now, it was safe to assume they had received no reward at all.
There were too many things that cast doubt on Solderet.
‘Enough.’
Jin cut through his confused thoughts as if striking them down with a sword. If he continued down this path, useless anxiety and doubt would spiral out of control.
‘At the very least, there wasn't a single piece of concrete evidence in the grey sphere’s vision that Solderet betrayed them. Furthermore, the transition between the first and second visions was incredibly unnatural, like a book with its most important pages torn out.’
The recording device Solderet left in the subspace appeared to be damaged. The way the images and voices were blurred for long stretches was clearly not normal. This meant he couldn't rule out the possibility that crucial clues were hidden within those obscured sections.
‘And even if Solderet’s betrayal is true and continues to this day, there’s no need to be disappointed. Temar’s defeat is not my defeat. If the Runcandel of that era was stronger than the clan is now, then I’ll just have to become Patriarch and build a Runcandel that surpasses them both.’
Solderet, Temar, and the Runcandel of that era.
Whatever the truth was, Jin resolved to uphold the values he had set for himself. Just as he always had. That would be his unchanging standard, no matter what secrets he uncovered about Solderet and Runcandel in the future.
Rustle, crackle!
He heard the sound of grass being stepped on from behind. Turning, he saw Murakan, his entire body a mess, running toward him with a deep scowl.
“Hey! Kid! Are you okay?!”
“Ah, you were here. Where were you hiding, Murakan? I was so preoccupied that I forgot to look for you.”
“You… forgot about me? Wow, kid. Did Silderay hit you in the head? I can’t believe you’d say something so hurtful, and so casually too, huh?”
“You won’t think so once you hear what I saw inside. You'll understand.”
“What is it?”
“After the fight with Sir Silderay ended, I was pulled into a new subspace. There, I saw several people from a thousand years ago through a recording device Solderet left behind.”
“A recording device?”
Jin spent some time explaining the contents of the recording device to Murakan. He shared everything, from the conversation between Solderet and Temar to Silderay’s rage and Diana’s comfort.
However, he omitted one thing: the fact that Solderet already knew Jin’s name.
The reason was simple. He judged that, for now, there was no reason not to respect Solderet’s wishes as his contractor.
Murakan was shocked at first, but he soon seemed to fall into reminiscence, becoming absorbed in Jin’s explanation. It seemed every part of the past shown in the vision—both good and bad—was a cherished memory for him.
“…But listening to you, Silderay—that guy definitely lost his mind. Calling me a scoundrel was absurd enough, but he dared to call Solderet a traitor? Ha, I can't even kill a guy who’s already dead twice.”
“He showed me an incredible secret technique. I can’t deny I coveted it.”
“Well, as a knight, he was a great man. I just don't know why he became so ill-mannered all of a sudden. Anyway, are these what was left behind when Solderet's subspace collapsed?”
Murakan pointed to the black bead and the greatsword fragment lying on the ground.
“Yeah. We were told the materials to strengthen Bradamante were here, so it's likely these.”
“The greatsword fragment is probably a material. I've never seen a bead like this before, but it's definitely not for blacksmithing. I’m sure of it.”
“Really? How can you be so sure if you’ve never seen it before?”
“You must have felt it too—the bead is filled with spirit energy. It’s more like a seal, similar to the one in the mirror we found in Colon. It's an object made to hide or suppress something.”
“I’ll have to show it to Lady Misha.”
At the mention of Misha’s name, Murakan’s face immediately contorted.
Jin chuckled at the sight and summoned Shuri.
“Let’s head back for now, Murakan.”