Book 10 Chapter 10

Episode 235

As Elamas turned to ash in the flames that erupted from Aki's embrace, the expression on her face was clearly a comfortable smile.

The same one Toureyna had worn.

That was something I, Lynn herself, could have given her, but Aki, a complete stranger, had gifted Elamas such peace.

"……"

Without realizing it, I feel like I'm heading into an unreachable realm, which somehow brings a wry smile to my face.

"Abubut!"

Aki, who had risen holding her younger sister Setsunen, ran towards us.

Seeing her holding Setsunen, having grown so much both mentally and physically to an unrecognizable height, made my heart ache.

Perhaps because we had crossed the boundary between life and death, the four of us hugged each other and started to laugh blankly.

Until Aki suddenly blurted out something strange.

"Daddy, Mommy, lovey-dovey?"

"What love?"

"Aki, who taught you such words?"

"Then never mind."

"Aruuu!"

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment, but then Miria, looking back towards the city, flinched and trembled her shoulders.

"Even though Elamas died, the fog hasn't disappeared."

I pushed off the ground with the base of my staff and stood up.

"I expected this. Ancient primitive men don't move without necromancy, but the movement of those who became primitive men due to the plague remains the same."

"What? Then how does it end?"

"That's not something we can end."

Only the descendants of Rigwind can quell this situation. Whether those guys are protecting Obin well will be the turning point of victory or defeat…

* * *

When did I start learning magic? It was a memory from a distant childhood.

Others often can't recall their infant memories, but for Valensidis, the memory of that day is still vivid.

On days when the spring breeze blows, on days when the sound of waves is calm, that memory faintly washes over him.

- You, are you drunk again? What do you expect the child to learn, always like this.

- Ugh! How can I endure without getting drunk! They treat me like a complete idiot!

- Oh, I can't live like this. How happy would the whole family be if you just did the work given by the Magic Academy roughly well?

His father was a talentless wizard, a wizard who was always a laughingstock every time he went to the academy.

That's why he always returned completely drunk after being away from home for a long time.

Of course, he never laid a hand on anyone or shouted loudly. He would just grumble while his mother prepared dinner.

- Son. Your father lives despised like this. But those guys have completely forgotten the essence of magic. What is magic?

- ?

- It should act as a ladder for those who are powerless, weak, and without opportunity, sigh, tsk tsk tsk tsk…

Then, his father once dropped some documents from his bag.

The research attempt was good, but it was a magic for public relief that his father himself hadn't properly completed with runes and mathematical formulas.

Valensidis, who would pore over magic books in his study when his father was away, immediately spotted the problem with that magic and corrected it overnight.

- No, Valen, you, um, oh…?

What kind of expression did his father have when he woke up in the afternoon and saw it?

- Did I teach you magic?

- I learned it from books. This much is easy.

His father stared blankly at Valensidis, then rushed to the kitchen. He grabbed his mother's hand, who was preparing breakfast, and laughed excitedly.

- He's a genius, our son was a genius! With our son's talent, he will surely be able to brighten this dark world!

Tears welled up in Valensidis's eyes as he lay collapsed on the ruined road. Memories of days he could no longer hold…

"The prince has started his performance."

"Even so, I don't think it will have any meaning."

"Such an immature performance couldn't possibly regenerate the barrier."

The legs of a Dawn Brigade member, who was looking up at the spire and taking a stance to throw a javelin, were cut off in the next instant.

Countless rotating vacuum zones created by wind magic formed a cutting force like blades.

It was Valensidis's signature move, Wind Blade.

"Show some respect, this is the King's presence…"

That bastard…

As soon as the others next to the fallen member turned around, teal arrows simultaneously pierced their chests.

Roots of magic power sprouted from the impact surface of the arrows, destroying the target's heart.

"Valensidis!"

Soon after, the archer Rem came running with agile movements.

"Rem…"

He helped Valensidis, who was struggling to cough up blood with both hands on the ground, to his feet.

"How do you like the taste of Baekchang Palace's arrows? Does it clear your head?"

"Yes, certainly… and my name is Valensidis…"

"Is that important right now?"

The bow of Gungseong, Serwebon…

To be able to heal allies from such a distance, that's certainly an incredible ability.

As Rem carried Valensidis onto the roof, a low murmur escaped his lips.

"It looks like I'll be fine even without me now…"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"It was just me talking to myself, no particular meaning…"

Rem propped Valensidis against the railing, then strung a magical arrow onto the bowstring of Baekchang Palace. He then looked worriedly towards the spire.

"It seems like he's been playing the flute for quite a while, but I don't hear any sound. Is it going well?"

It's your heart, Obin.

Don't forget the teachings Rain gave you.

Perhaps I don't even have the right to give you such advice. Because I too had forgotten my father's teachings.

- When you devise magic, you put your heart into it! I hope people will be happy with this magic, I hope they'll smile during a drought, like this!

- Dad, you don't know what magic is, do you?

- This kid has no limits in what he can say to his father! And I told you to call me Master, didn't I?

Back then, in my childhood, I used to tease my father about it, but to think that was part of the truth an ancient Archmage held in his heart…

'Father, you weren't wrong. The one who was wrong was this foolish disciple. To have mocked you like that.'

A magic circle floated above Valensidis's palm. It wasn't some transcendent magic like those wielded by Archmages.

It was merely a simple amplification spell.

So that the sound of the prince's flute could spread throughout the city, and also be heard by himself.

"……"

At the top of the spire, Obin, who had been playing Cheonpasikjeok until he was out of breath, sensed a strange timbre and stopped playing.

Why doesn't it reach?

Why is there no change?

Pipi and Bart are buying me time. Many people are dying. I have to hurry, I have to hurry…

'No need to hurry.'

At that moment, countless bubbles appeared around him, gurgling.

'Calmly, with your heart.'

Magic imbued with the power of amplification.

That magic was like someone placing a hand on Obin's shoulder and whispering to him. Master Valensidis, and his mother.

Blood began to flow into his stiff fingers. Strength began to drain from his rigid body.

Rain Ludwig's face flashed before his eyes for a moment.

I'll never become such a great mage. But my mother never told me to become one either.

'How did Mother play this song?'

The melody his mother always whistled at bedtime, the performance she would give atop this spire even when there was no special event.

That nostalgic timbre of his mother playing the accompaniment, Obira clapping along, and making him play.

As if painting that past scene on a canvas, as if moving an old sound to another place.

"……?"

"……?"

"……?"

Like ripples spreading across a calm surface, a new wave emerges in the world of confusion.

Everyone's movements began to stop one by one. The movements of those holding swords and spears, and those who had become madmen under the primitive curse.

One by one, in the beautiful melody that spread throughout the palace like bursting soap bubbles, though they shouldn't be visible.

There was a sound, like a lullaby from childhood, dancing in everyone's memories.

An instrument embodying the timbre of Tersia, who sang heavenly melodies remembering those who died, responded to the heart of the young prince.

Tears welled up in the eyes of Ashka, the gatekeeper, who looked up at that spire.

Because in the figure of the young prince, who was despised by everyone, the figure of Her Majesty the Queen was superimposed.

"This performance, what on earth…"

Rem, enchanted by the sound, muttered, not even realizing that the arrow he had placed on Baekchang Palace had scattered.

'It was said that sound transcends even language to convey the heart.'

If so.

If magic contains the heart.

Then isn't sound magic perhaps the discipline that truly pierces the truth of magic?

'I…'

Valensidis, who had been staring blankly at the spire, lowered his head, covering his face with his right hand.

He had lived his entire life in self-reproach.

In the guilt of having killed his parents, his master, with his own hands.

'The fact that I was able to quickly escape the nightmare of the Ranoa Grand Bridge was thanks to recognizing it as a nightmare so quickly because I had suffered from that nightmare my whole life…'

In truth, my life was like wandering.

Destined to wander my whole life not knowing the right path to take, and to die in ignorance.

- Take on a disciple.

Though not a formal master and without a proper teacher-disciple relationship, by guiding Obin, I vaguely came to understand my father's heart.

That song, that sound, is Obin's memory of sound, but it's not Obin's sound.

Instead of the scene Obin envisions in his heart appearing, the listener's cherished memories unfold in the depths of their mind.

- You will meet friends. How vast this world is. So wait for your time.

Those who knew the true story of Valensidis's life would feel nothing but contempt.

But that guy was different.

He gave an answer to my life.

Just as my father said back then, I met a friend somewhere in this vast world.

'The Archmage who saved the world with that noble power is now saving my soul…'

Each sound began to glow. Warmth imbued the sound. It emitted color.

The sound painted.

It painted a watercolor of memories in the minds of people who had turned into blank slates. It re-captured minds separated from their bodies.

- Father, shouldn't I learn combat magic to leave a name behind like Lynn?

- Hmm, certainly Archmages like Lynn save the world, but do you really need to become such a person, you rascal?

- Then?

The darkness in their hearts melted away.

The primitive bonds that imprisoned their souls shattered one by one, and people began to emerge from their broken bodies.

Those within the castle, and those outside the castle.

Those who were freed from the plague were unconscious, but their faces were wet with tears.

As darkness could not overcome light, the vortex of vengeful spirits shivered and scattered in the light of that sound.

"Is Rigwind's barrier regenerating?"

Bart's face lit up with delight as he observed the situation.

'The cracks in the earth are healing, and the light pillars of the primitive kingdom are disappearing.'

Furthermore… the movements of the relentlessly charging Dawn Brigade members stopped all at once. As if their power had been cut off.

And one by one they fell to the ground, their bodies beginning to scatter into dark blue heat haze.

'That this is possible means.'

Rain and Miria must have won too.

Phew…

The performance continued even as Bart caught his breath and slung his Dragonbone Spear over his shoulder.

- It's enough to become a mage who can help the heart of each and every person. You should become such a mage, Valen.

You don't have to leave your name in history books.

Instead, become someone who can leave your name and smile in the hearts of those around you.

- That is the battle of life you must live from now on.

Water droplets flowed from Valensidis's right hand, which covered his face, and fell to the floor.

This was his farewell to his master.

The master's smile and admonition, which he had forgotten in shock.

"Yes, Father…"

On that day, the plague of lost souls that had covered the Solond Kingdom completely ended the moment the young prince took the flute from his lips.

In the breeze that brushed Obin's cheek, it felt as though he smelled his mother's scent…

Obin, looking in the direction of that scent's source, a direction where no physical entity could exist, smiled a smile where sadness and joy coexisted.

"Mama, it's all over now."