Chapter 236
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 236
Chapter Title: Passage of the Soul
The Union weapon forge, located in the Bureau's annex building.
It had been a while since his last visit, but it was still bustling and full of energy.
Dwarves with their stout limbs moved ceaselessly around the kilns, creating a cacophony of sounds.
A man watching them with his hands clasped behind his back noticed Loan's arrival and greeted him warmly.
It was the artisan, Alik.
“Well, look who it is. If it isn't the little mage.”
He was incredibly happy to see Loan.
He was immensely proud of the Sheville he had created—though, strictly speaking, Loan had contributed about half the work.
This was because he often heard news of Loan wielding Sheville and achieving great feats across the continent.
“Hello, Master Alik.”
“Just call me Alik.”
“Uncle Alik.”
“How's Sheville? Let me see the blades.”
As if he had no interest in catching up, his gaze went straight to Loan's hip.
Loan obligingly floated the Sheville blades one by one in front of Alik.
“Hah, the edges are all still sharp. You've taken good care of them.”
Alik said with a pleased expression.
Other than wiping them clean, Loan hadn't done much maintenance. It seemed being constantly cloaked in aura had prevented the blades from dulling.
Alik's attention then turned to Loan's necklace.
“Hmm. Haven't seen this before. It has a strange energy...”
“I enchanted the necklace the Governor-General gave me as a reward.”
“A necklace with an ancient elven pattern. Its ego would be strong, so a normal method wouldn't work. It must be the Schwerin style, then.”
“Yes.”
Alik was extremely curious about what kind of magic had been imbued, but he only glanced at Loan, not daring to ask.
“Ahem. So, the reason for your visit after so long must be because of those folks over there, right?”
Where he pointed, Gradin and the other dwarves from Versa were either being trained by Union artisans or practicing on their own.
“Those guys. They've always been skilled with their hands, but the Union has its own way of doing things, so we're training them hard.”
“You seem busy.”
“The Bureau Director predicted we'll need a lot more weapons in the future. Besides, it's almost time to recruit new members. We have to start preparing now.”
“Ah, I see...”
The thought that he, too, would soon be called 'senior' made his heart flutter slightly with excitement.
At the same time, he also felt he needed to reflect on whether he had cultivated enough skill and character to deserve it.
As Loan was lost in thought, Alik gave him a gentle push and said.
“Go on. It looks like... someone's waiting for you.”
Bella was crouched in a corner, gazing blankly at the working dwarves.
Not wanting to disturb the focused dwarves, Loan carefully approached Bella's side.
Bella was startled to see Loan.
“Young Master!”
Her voice was instantly swallowed by the loud noise of the forge.
Loan sat down next to Bella.
“How's life in the Union?”
“Ah... it's a little unfamiliar. But they provide meals, and the lodging is nice, so I wonder if I even deserve such treatment.”
Bella said that since coming to the Union, she had only gone back and forth between her quarters and the forge.
She didn't even join the dwarves when they went out to see the city.
She was still afraid of encountering people. To be precise, she was afraid of harming them.
Loan told her he had heard the story from Werner. He encouraged her, saying that talking it out during counseling would surely help.
She answered with a brave smile.
“Coming here made me realize something for certain. What it was that I wanted.”
“What is it?”
“To live an ordinary life. Like before. Living among people. Worrying about what to buy and where to sell it to make a little more profit. Making my father happy. Meeting a good person and starting a family. It was difficult, but those were the things I was slowly achieving. For a while, I think it was hard for me to accept that it had all become impossible.”
Loan fully understood how she felt.
In less than a year, her life had been completely turned upside down.
He also understood her self-deprecating sigh.
But lamenting alone wouldn't change anything.
Fortunately, Bella had already taken the first step, so with a little more encouragement, she would be able to take another.
“It's not impossible. Just because you have that ability doesn't mean you can't do other things. Take me, for example...”
*Seeing mana, having a potential secret of my birth, people around me becoming sacrifices to demons... My life is full of strange and difficult things.*
Loan didn't say it out loud.
Because, despite his short life, he understood well that everyone's own pain feels the greatest, and their own circumstances feel the most difficult.
“Young Master?”
“Ah, um. Being more talented and better-looking than others has its inconveniences, but I'm still trying my best to live with it.”
“What kind of nonsense is that...”
Loan's comment was so far beyond absurd that Bella's words trailed off, and she couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
It seemed she had relaxed a little.
Still, it wasn't the right time to press her with questions.
After some more small talk about her life in the Union, Loan was about to get up and leave.
“When I have my counseling session with the mage from Schwerin, could you perhaps come with me, Young Master?”
Bella was the one who asked Loan.
Loan agreed and left the annex.
Unexpectedly, Lazaros was there.
“Uh...”
“Why such a reaction? Are you perhaps uncomfortable seeing me again so soon?”
Lazaros put on a mock-offended expression.
“Of course not.”
“Haha, I was just joking. The Governor-General is looking for you. I heard you were in the annex, so I waited to tell you right away.”
Lazaros personally guided Loan to the rear garden of the main building.
It was the very place where he had received the necklace as a reward.
Having a private audience with the Governor-General after so long made his heart flutter with anticipation.
He opened the entrance and stepped inside.
Despite it being the middle of winter, a completely different world—still green and warm—existed there.
And a density of mana higher than anywhere else.
The exhaustion from running around to greet everyone without rest since arriving at the Union felt as if it were being completely washed away.
Loan took a deep breath and approached the Governor-General.
She seemed a bit thinner than the last time he had seen her. When she smiled at Loan, her cheeks looked hollow.
A worry uncharacteristic of Loan—*She should eat well and not be picky*—sprouted in his mind.
“Welcome. You've been through a lot.”
Instead, the Governor-General's concern and warm welcome for him made him feel touched.
“I heard you were recuperating in the Clock Tower for a long time. Are you in good health?”
“What could go wrong when one is cooped up in a small room? I only feel sorry for all of you who risk your lives traveling across the land.”
The Governor-General suddenly took Loan's hand and led him to a chair bathed in the late afternoon sun.
Loan's face flushed red. He thought it was a relief that the Governor-General's eyes were bound by a cloth.
Soon, their conversation began, with the chirping of birds as a backdrop.
As the Governor-General was particularly interested in Loan's achievements, it was mostly Loan who did the talking.
When he mentioned that he had managed to open a thin mana channel to stabilize his body's core just as he arrived at the Union.
“Mm... that's incredible. Vangelis must have been quite surprised.”
Her reply was genuinely pleased.
Loan felt immensely proud.
“Let me take a look. Even if the path is open, it won't be very effective if the flow isn't properly established.”
The moment she came up behind him and placed a hand on his back, he was so flustered he didn't know what to do.
The Governor-General's hand was very warm.
His embarrassment vanished, and a sense of fulfillment quickly washed over him.
He was instinctively reminded of the time he was held by Pauline long ago. And when he was held by Helen again—no, it was a memory of a warmth even older than that.
His eyes slowly closed.
“Yes. You have done very well. It is faint, but it is a true and straight path that will hold your center.”
The moment her voice stopped.
A warm energy spread from his back and gently flowed into his body.
It was not merely examining mana with a palm like Bureau Director Lazaros, but a miraculous technique of sending one's own mana to swim through another's body.
It was an unfamiliar experience, but he wasn't surprised.
It was a tense moment, yet strangely, a smile formed on his face.
The feeling of comfort grew, relaxing his body to the point of letting go of all his worries.
Loan had absolute faith in the Governor-General, so he simply entrusted his body to her.
The energy that flowed into him. The Governor-General's mana, which had subtly joined his circulation path and roamed his body, stealthily seeped into Loan's lower abdomen, gathered there, passed his perineum, and began to slowly widen the narrow, thread-like path of circulation.
It felt as if it were guiding him to follow. A sense of awe arose naturally. He willingly followed.
This rear garden was a place richer in mana than any other.
As the path opened, the circulating mana found the space and rushed upward. His body straightened, and he felt a sense of fullness in every corner.
At the same time, a look of admiration appeared on the Governor-General's face, which quickly softened into a gentle smile.
There were no words, no exchange of minds, yet the two of them smiled at each other.
One gave generously, and the other accepted without any doubt. It was as if they were blood relatives, and Loan vaguely thought that would be nice.
The path, which had been expanding with a series of pops, like buttons bursting open.
Finally came to a halt near the crown of his head.
The Governor-General did not force it further.
She calmly followed the path Loan had prepared and left the section that was blocked as if by fog.
The Governor-General probably knew the path beyond, but he interpreted her actions as a message to find and clear it himself.
That was enough for Loan. He felt as if the pillar the Governor-General had planted within him was firmly supporting his entire body.
“You did it all.”
Her warm breath tickled his ear as her hands slowly moved away.
Until the Governor-General returned to her seat in front of him, Loan didn't know what to say.
He had to express his gratitude. But he was at a loss as to what exactly he should be thanking her for.
He impulsively placed a fist over his heart.
“Thank you for the reward...”
“It is not a reward. Seeing what you have accomplished, I should give you something greater.”
“...”
He was bewildered. If this wasn't a reward or a grace, then what was it?
The Governor-General said with a gentle smile.
“I am simply cheering for you.”
The simple words of an absolute being.
He had been in the Union for less than a year; even if it was unprecedented, he was still just a Runner.
How could she bestow such generosity upon someone like him?
Loan lowered his head, feeling shy.
The Governor-General changed the subject.
“I hear you have an item you don't know how to use.”
Loan reflexively took the 'Passage of the Soul' from his coat and placed it on the table.
A small, flat bowl with an open bottom.
She only stared at it blankly from behind her blindfold; no particular change in emotion could be seen on her face.
“The sacred artifact of Versa. I heard it was made with the power of a god.”
The era when gods existed. It aligned with Werner's story.
“What is this item used for?”
“It was once called a vessel for souls. Now, it is called the Passage of the Soul.”
“If souls pass through it, is it something like a gateway to the Spirit Realm?”
“However you express it, it is the same place. The Netherworld, the Spirit Realm, the Astral Plane, the Otherworld, a different dimension, and so on.”
Loan could only nod slightly.
The Governor-General's gentle voice continued.
“Seeing as you enchanted the necklace I gave you, you should be able to comprehend the essence of an object and resonate with it. It seems you haven't tried to resonate with this item yet.”
“Yes... I was worried that if it truly is a passage, I might get sucked in.”
Honestly, he had been afraid.
Because, like the black box, it was difficult to predict what kind of result this would produce.
However.
The Governor-General's next words put his mind completely at ease.
“Be brave. Everything will be fine.”
Fearing this feeling of reassurance might fade, Loan immediately floated the bowl in the air.
He placed it at eye level, extending both hands and keeping them at a fixed distance.
He explored it using both synesthesia and convection.
He didn't try to understand or figure out what it was made of, or who had imbued it with what power.
It was about observing, without addition or subtraction, the halo of light that composed the bowl, the density of that halo, and the rotational force and compactness of its individual mana.
It was closer to appreciation.
While doing so, he tried to approach the object's subjective essence.
Something difficult to express in a single line. Even if it was hard to explain or interpret for someone else by saying, "It's exactly this."
He hoped it would at least blossom into an 'impression' that his inner self could accept.
Time passed like that.
At the end of his resonance.
Loan felt a certain grain of mana passing horizontally through the very center of the bowl.
Thinking it felt somewhat unnatural, he straightened and tidied it.
It had been the same when he resonated with the 'black box.' And now, something similar was happening.
*Vwooom?*
Suddenly, the bowl, which had looked like a ring of light, began to expand.
The bowl didn't just grow taller and wider. Its volume also increased.
It finally enveloped Loan and swallowed the entire rear garden.
A fierce storm of light swept past his eyes, and Loan realized he was in a completely different world.
It was as if he were observing the world only with his mind's eye; everything was just a halo of light.
But he could understand what everything meant, even without form.
The Governor-General was still beside him. As were the nameless plants and trees filling the garden.
He could see beyond that as well.
The dwarves filling the annex. Bella, too.
And beyond them, the Honor Division and the Faith Division. Union members from other units. Beyond them, the city's residents. And the flora and fauna beyond that.
And also, an incredibly familiar halo of light, gently swimming through the air in the far distance.
Loan knew its identity well.
He moved his mouth as if to make a sound, but having no form, Loan couldn't create any vibrations.
But as if the meaning was conveyed.
In that instant—
As if contracting space itself, the small halo of light stretched a long line of light and approached Loan.
It was Aul.