Chapter 331: Records of the Past – Head Butler Ruet Damiro Yul (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 331: Records of the Past – Head Butler Ruet Damiro Yul (1)
The Spirit Energy Orb Ruet produced looked slightly different from any Jin had seen before.
It emanated a faint black light and was smaller in size. Upon closer inspection, he could see people and landscapes moving within the sphere.
He knew instinctively.
This was a recording device, completely undamaged.
The scenes visible inside the orb were the records of the past it contained.
“What do you mean, I won’t be able to remember you, Lady Ruet?”
[Exactly what I said. The Zipple’s history manipulation is still in effect.]
Jin had heard much about the Zipple’s history manipulation, but he had yet to experience it firsthand. He had only seen the resulting memory loss in others—specifically, those related to the Runcandel of old.
Thus, it was difficult to accept. She felt so vivid and real; would he truly forget Ruet’s existence the moment he left this space?
As if reading his mind, Ruet gave a bitter smile and pulled a quill from her robes.
“Give me your hand for a moment.”
Ruet wrote her name on Jin’s outstretched palm.
A moment later, Jin felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the name written there.
Ruet Damiro Yul.
…uet Damiro Yul, …Damiro Yul, …Yul, …
‘The letters of Lady Ruet’s name are fading…!’
A cold shiver crawled up his skin.
He was already well aware that the Zipple possessed the power to manipulate history. However, experiencing it directly like this was an entirely different matter.
[As the Contractor of the Thousand Years, Sir Jin, you have likely visited two tombs already. You must have met the guardians there.]
“…Yes, I met guardians modeled after Sir Silderay and Sir Sarah.”
[They are likely individuals who have already vanished from my memory. Unlike them, I am not a guardian forged from spirit energy. That is why I will continue to disappear from your memory as well.]
She was not a guardian crafted from souls and spirit energy; she was a living person.
Therefore, unlike Silderay or Sarah, who had already met their deaths, she was still in the process of being erased from history.
[I wish I could tell you many stories about the Runcandel of a thousand years ago, but unfortunately, I have few memories left of those days.]
Though the time granted to the Fairy race was said to be equal to that of dragons, no being in the world would want to endure a thousand long years alone, with their memories failing them.
Jin found it difficult to choose the right words to respond.
[Do not look so sad, Sir Jin. The fact that my history has vanished is merely a scar of honor, earned while protecting the clan and the world as a member of Runcandel and a denizen of this world.]
Ruet spoke calmly. She had lost most of her memories of Runcandel, yet her blind devotion remained unchanged.
“…The price for protecting the clan is far too cruel.”
“But without such a price, Runcandel would have been completely erased from the world. How is the Runcandel of today?”
“It is the second-greatest power in the world, following the Zipple.”
At those words, Ruet broke into a bright smile.
[See? It was a sacrifice worth making!]
Ruet spoke in an excited voice, like a thrilled child.
[I told you, didn't I? Temar, we will surely be able to protect the clan…]
Jin and Ruet’s eyes met.
Ruet stared at Jin blankly for a moment before shaking her head.
[Oh, I made a mistake. My apologies.]
“It’s all right, Lady Ruet.”
A brief silence followed.
Jin’s heart grew heavy, seeing this pitiable Fairy embarrassed by her own slip.
[The Runcandel of my era has been almost entirely erased from history. The strongest family of magic swordsmen in the world has vanished. Since the covenant was formed back then, the current Runcandel must be unable to use magic.]
“That is correct.”
[But since you are Solderet’s contractor, Sir Jin, the curse placed upon Runcandel at that time will not apply to you.]
Whoosh…
Jin formed a sphere of mana above his palm. Ruet stared at the sphere for a long time, as if entranced.
[It is a light… the light we saved.]
“Currently, I am the only magic swordsman in Runcandel.”
Ruet also began to manifest mana.
A strange resonance emanated from the Spirit Energy Orb, and Jin suddenly recalled that he had seen this magic before.
‘Record Magic?!’
The magic Ruet was using was remarkably similar in form to the Record Magic of the Hister family.
The Hister family was active between the years 1400 and 1500. The Fairy race was known to have perished much earlier than that.
Zzzzt. Chiiiik…!
The Spirit Energy Orb began to operate, emitting a familiar, faint static noise.
Could there be some connection between the Fairies and the Histers?
Just as the thought occurred to him, Ruet spoke.
[You seem a bit surprised, Sir Jin.]
“I have seen similar magic before.”
[This is not magic, but a special ability unique to us Fairies. Our race was born with a life force nearing immortality, but in exchange…]
Vring—
The unstable noise of the Spirit Energy Orb gradually smoothed into a soft hum. It was a sound he hadn't heard from the damaged orbs.
[…we were given the duty of recording.]
To observe and record the world.
That was the reason for the Fairies' existence.
[Despite possessing sufficient power, we rarely interfered in the affairs of the human world. Even when tyrants appeared and ravaged the world, or when human culture drifted in the wrong direction, we simply recorded. Because that was our role.]
“Then, the reason you, a Fairy, became affiliated with Runcandel… must have been because the Zipple were manipulating history.”
When Jin answered, having grasped the context, Ruet nodded.
[Exactly. If they hadn't been defiling history, I never would have met Temar, nor would I have become the Head Butler of Runcandel.]
Ruet Damiro Yul—she was originally the most noble being among the Fairies.
The name ‘Yul’ was a title reserved only for the King of the Fairies.
[But at some point, I was moved by Temar and began to consider myself a member of Runcandel. Now, this Storm Castle feels more like home than my original birthplace, the Primeval Forest. Even though the time I spent here is nothing more than a dream dreamt during a midday nap compared to the ages I spent in the forest…]
Now that even those memories were mostly erased, Jin could not begin to imagine the depth of the loss Ruet felt.
[Haha, now is not the time to be struggling to recall forgotten memories.]
“Lady Ruet.”
[Please, speak.]
“By any chance, do you know of a family called Hister?”
[It is a name I am hearing for the first time.]
“The people of that family use an ability similar to yours—Record Magic. Because of that, they were wiped out by the Zipple and vanished, but I know the last survivor of the Hister family. Perhaps, if I ask that person, we might be able to restore your memories.”
[That is an interesting story. Humans who use magic similar to ours… However, restoring my memories will likely be impossible.]
“Still, shouldn't we at least try?”
[I cannot leave this place, and you, Sir Jin, will forget everything about me once you leave this subspace. Therefore, you asking that person to recover my memories is an act that can never happen. Even if that person truly possessed such an ability.]
Ruet took Jin’s hand and placed it atop the Spirit Energy Orb.
[Still, you won't completely forget the existence of the person known as 'me.' From what I know, my appearance shows up briefly within this recording device. I can only show this to you once, so please, watch closely.]
Vrooooom—!
The waves of mana extending from the Spirit Energy Orb intensified.
Simultaneously, Jin felt his consciousness being pulled inward as he began to witness the records contained within the orb.
*
It was a place where wind and rain raged through all four seasons, but that day was exceptionally violent. The expressions of the people sitting in the Storm Castle’s meeting room were grim.
On one side of the room, tens of thousands of blank sheets of paper were piled high. However, the papers were all slightly crumpled, as if they had already been handled.
Scratch, scratch, scritch…
Butlers and scribes incessantly wrote on new sheets of paper.
They were in the middle of recording the events the Fairy race had recently experienced.
Hundreds of people were simultaneously writing the same content using different sentences and interpretations.
(March 3rd, 797: Runcandel records the Zipple’s history manipulation regarding the Fairy race. March 4th, 797: Five Fairies—Shil Damiro, Beka Tishke, Mulias Mon, Trica Tredos, and Zen Mainu—are forgotten among the Fairies…)
(…Year, March 3rd: Runcandel records the Zipple’s … regarding … March 4th: … five people Shil, …)
Even as the butlers and scribes were recording, the letters were being erased.
It was like pouring water into a bottomless vessel. Nevertheless, they desperately continued to write the same content over and over.
It was out of the fear that if they didn't, the Fairies would be completely forgotten.
But this wasn't a baseless fear; it was a terror born from having already witnessed things being erased in this exact manner.
What was even more frightening, however, was the fact that if the Fairies completely vanished, Runcandel itself might one day be erased from history in the same way.
“The Zipple… those mad bastards. Do they really intend to erase the Fairies, who are still alive and breathing, in this manner…?!” Diana, one of the Ten Great Knights, burst out in indignation.
Everyone else in the meeting room felt the same.
They all knew.
They couldn't stop the Fairies from vanishing from history this way; they were merely delaying the extinction.
Even for a living being… if they are erased from history, they become a being that never existed. No one recognizes them, and they themselves lose their own identity.
The Zipple’s history manipulation ability went beyond simply distorting the truth; it reached into the realm of annihilating the truth itself.
“How can a mere human, not a god, wield such power…? If not for the power of the Fairies, we would never have known their history manipulation had reached this level,” Padler, another of the Ten Great Knights, spoke.
As he said, without the Fairies’ recording ability, Runcandel would never have known the truth.
But at this rate, the Fairies would soon vanish.
No one would be left to record the truth for Runcandel—no, for the world.
Creeeeak—!
The Head Butler, Ruet Damiro Yul, entered the meeting room.
“You’ve arrived, Head Butler.”
When Diana gave a slight bow, Ruet manifested mana and floated a translucent window in the air.
“Everyone, look at this. There is hope. I have discovered it—that there is a limit to the Zipple’s history manipulation…!” Ruet shouted, her voice excited and contrasting sharply with her haggard face.
On the translucent window she had manifested, these words were inscribed:
<Three thousand and twenty-six mages, including Elona Zipple, attempted to manipulate the history regarding Temar Runcandel, but failed, as they could not overcome the sheer might of his existence.>