Book 12 Chapter 24

Side Story Part 2, Episode 17

The Child Who Weaves Hearts (17)

Rain Ludwig was unsatisfied.

He even thought of revealing his identity and causing a ruckus.

This was because pinning the Bandoran (1st star) rank insignia on Nen was something he had dreamed of since he first started teaching magic.

"Nen, you're so admirable! More than anything, it suits you so well!"

Miria, who had no way of knowing his feelings, made a fuss, and Nen also smiled brightly.

"It suits Nen so well!"

Rain was simply staring blankly at the glittering insignia on Nen's chest.

That sparkle, that texture.

All of it… was taking his heart back to the deeply missed everyday life of 300 years ago.

- Lin, this, you see? It's a symbol that Lin has become a full-fledged magician.

There was a memory he could never forget.

It was after Lin had completed the Bandoran exam.

It was the memory of the Dean personally retrieving the rank insignia from the administrative office and pinning it on Lin's chest.

- Do you remember a question I asked long ago? What Lin wanted to achieve with magic.

At such a young age, at a time when he had no particular conviction towards magic, what kind of answer could he possibly have given?

- For now, it's fine to give the same answer as before. But someday, when Lin becomes a magician not just in skill but also in heart, I hope you can give me that answer.

- …?

- And then someday, when the day comes that Lin poses this same question I asked to Lin's own disciple… Ah, I'll be truly happy.

Rain squatted in front of Nen and silently fiddled with the insignia.

The echoes of the past flowed in his ears, and his vision kept blurring into transparent bubbles, then shattering.

Nen, what do you want to achieve with magic… He should have asked that, but he couldn't open his mouth due to the overwhelming urge to cry.

'At that time, did you feel like this?'

He had lived his entire life with the guilt of not having been able to repay anything.

That he had never repaid the kindness of taking in, feeding, sheltering, and loving him, who was nothing more than an orphan from the slums.

But back then, in the year Lin first took the rank exam, did the Dean also experience such joy?

'If so, that would be wonderful…'

Rain silently hugged Nen tightly.

'If only Nen could read this emotion, this joy that is utterly inexpressible in words… as she reads other people's hearts.'

* * *

"Nen!"

As soon as they arrived at the <Bellewin> mansion, Nen jumped up at Scarge Ludwig's shout.

Scarge had been pacing constantly by the mansion's main gate, and when they later asked the employees, they said he had been doing that for days.

Rain was so dumbfounded he was speechless, and asked.

"Grandfather… isn't it the middle of the semester right now?"

"I took sick leave."

"Is it okay for a chief professor to take fraudulent sick leave?"

Scarge, hugging Nen, shouted angrily.

"Fraudulent, you say! I've fallen ill from missing Nen, so isn't it right that I should take sick leave!"

It was precisely because of this kind of thing that he hadn't wanted to return to the mansion… It felt, shall we say, a bit too much.

"Don't make that face. You're even worse normally."

At Miria's sigh, Rain crossed his arms.

"I'm the only person in the world for whom it's okay to be 'too much' when it comes to Nen, so what are you going to do about it?"

"Oh, for goodness sake."

"Honestly."

At that moment, Scarge burst into a hearty laugh.

"You passed, Nen! A Bandoran rank! You've come back with the rank insignia pinned!"

"Nen passed!"

"Hahaha! Just as expected of my bloodline! Bandoran is no problem at all!"

Cayven Ludwig, who had come out of the mansion because of Scarge's commotion, said with an awkward smile.

"Strictly speaking, Nen isn't your bloodline, Father, but…"

Meanwhile, Brim Ludwig hugged her son whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

"You've been well, haven't you? You're not starving yourself, are you?"

"I'm eating too well, it's a problem. I'm home, Mother."

This situation where he could so naturally say… he was home…

It made him both happy and sad.

Until what point would the connections from 300 years ago, who could never hear these words, have waited for him…?

"Miria, have you been well too?"

As Brim kissed her daughter-in-law's cheek, Miria let out a little laugh.

"Of course. I don't even notice time passing because I'm always with Nen and Ellaheim."

"Oh my, Ellaheim has grown so much! He looks about five years old now. Dear, look at our grandson here."

"Right? He eats a lot but he's so active that he doesn't gain weight. He'll probably grow into a tall, sturdy person. Though he's still practicing his pronunciation."

Miria whispered to her son.

"You have to say, 'Hello, Grandpa.'"

"Ha-rah-buh-tzi Ah-nyuh-ha-tteh-yo."

"Oh, you did well. This time, 'Hello, Grandma.'"

"Ha-muh-nee, Ah-nyuh-ha-sseh-yo."

Smiles blossomed on his parents' faces in an instant.

Even his father, who usually maintained his composure more than anyone, couldn't stop laughing.

His father put his hand under Ellaheim's armpit, lifted him up, and then held him tightly against his chest.

"Yes, I am your grandfather. Ellaheim, I am your grandfather."

He wished they would praise Nen more for passing the rank exam, rather than Ellaheim who had only just started to speak, but perhaps blood relations were indeed more precious to parents.

"It seems Serri will be getting married soon, so Ellaheim might have a cousin then."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, didn't you hear? Marriage talks are ongoing with the young master of the Grand Duke Duren's family. He was a truly splendid young lord. He said he really wanted to meet you and greet you."

Serri getting married?

Marrying into an Elector's family?

He had never really given it much thought, but his sister's marriage talks were somewhat shocking.

He wondered how strong the对方 was, especially how many times he could block Rain's attacks using 'Secret Art: Elemental Deployment'.

He thought he would permit it if he blocked ten times.

As for the bastards who would ask permission for Akina or Nen, he planned to test if they could withstand 'Asura Soul Shattering Mirror' in serious mode.

If they could withstand that, he would gladly permit the marriage talks. It meant he would never permit it, so they should abandon all hope.

Rain stayed at the main family home all day and heard updates about his family members whom he hadn't seen in a while.

Even without such special occasions, they met once or twice a year, yet there were many stories he hadn't known.

Just as Nen and Ellaheim's growth was different every day, his family's news also became more varied as the years passed.

"Bran became a deputy section chief in the Special Operations Department? How old is he now?"

"Don't think of it by your standards. For Bran, that's very fast."

Even though no particularly special or unique stories were exchanged, returning home always gifted Rain with a warm feeling.

Was that why?

A strange sensation held Rain's soul throughout the night. It was only at dawn that he realized the true nature of that emotion was homesickness.

"You're going to the North?"

His mother asked in surprise.

"Yes, there's somewhere I'd like to visit for a moment…"

Originally, not a place to visit, but a place he should have returned to.

Just once.

A place he had truly gathered his courage to return to just once… the spiritual home of the Archmage Lin.

'The magic tower of the Osarius School…'

After finishing his four-day stay, Rain headed North.

Cherry blossoms were beautifully scattering from the sky while tulips were blooming colorfully on the ground.

While passing straight through Ciastulika, Miria occasionally took off her shoes and walked barefoot on the ground.

Nen and Ellaheim also followed suit, feeling the sensation of earth and mud barefoot, and Miria, smearing mud on her two children's faces, said.

"This is the touch of life. It's easy to forget when you're busy with work… but if you just take a little time, you'll see a lot."

"L-ife!"

"Ellaheim likes life too?"

"Mm-hmm, goo-ood!"

When Nen smeared mud on Ellaheim's forehead, Ellaheim also followed his sister and smeared mud on her cheek.

Not to be outdone, Rain drew whiskers on Nen and Ellaheim's faces with mud.

Ellaheim had a mustache and Nen had cat whiskers, and their appearance was truly comical, making the family laugh together happily.

'A journey filled with such simple joys…'

Wouldn't the journey he was supposed to take with his companions after the journey to the ends of the earth have looked like this?

Rain suppressed his sorrowful feelings.

Since Kias and Friede had already departed to the heavens, he would never know what that journey would have been like in his lifetime.

'To know all about magic, that is, the truth, yet not know that image… How can such an ignorant person be called a sage?'

The family soon reached the massive river, the Eleonore Great River.

The Eleonore Great River was a large river originating from the Eastern Eternal Mountains and served as the border between the Central and Northern regions.

The Stella Grand Bridge crossed this great river downstream, and Stella was said to be a direct disciple of Emittsa Page, the first Great Sage.

"Nen, the North is the home of herring dishes. If you come here, you absolutely must try herring eyeball salad."

The Stella Grand Bridge was so wide and long that all sorts of stalls, including restaurants, lined both sides. Of course, it was still smaller than the Lanoa Grand Bridge.

"Miria even shed tears of emotion after eating that 300 years ago. Come on, let's go eat."

Miria shouted, her eyes trembling with fear.

"No, absolutely not! That! Those were tears of agony! Don't you dare think of feeding Nen such a thing. I wanted to eat herring noodles back then! But you kept pushing me, calling me a 'regional discrimination champion,' so I couldn't eat it!"

Nen really liked it when stories from 300 years ago came up.

Perhaps it was because she could also glimpse the landscapes of memory through Miria's mental imagery.

In the end, Rain, succumbing to Miria's "violence," sat on an outdoor bench at a herring noodle shop and looked around.

"Wow, but this grand bridge hasn't changed since the three of us came here. Isn't it a bit dangerous if it's been 300 years and it's still like this?"

Three? The three of us?

To call it a simple slip of the tongue, there was something that piercingly stung his mind.

There was definitely something, but a curtain blocked him from remembering it.

"Oh, was Friede with us then?"

Miria seemed to have felt a similar sensation. Rain tilted his head and shook it.

"No, he joined us in the Central region after we crossed the bridge."

A conversation whose true nature they themselves didn't know passed between them, but all fleeting thoughts were soon swept away by the overwhelming flavor of the herring noodles that arrived.

'Delicious! Northern-style cuisine after a long time!'

Since Lin's hometown was in the North, it's no exaggeration to say that Rain's palate was specialized for Northern cuisine. He liked these kinds of soup-based dishes.

The Eleonore Great River, a river as vast as the sea, distinctly divided the cultures north and south of its basin.

The North used clothes specialized for the cold, *hanbok* (cold-weather attire) and chopsticks, and also had many dishes using hot soup for warmth.

"Nen, I used to be quite skilled in Northern-style cooking, but because of that 'regional discrimination champion,' I couldn't do it, so my skills are quite rusty now, and I can't cook for Nen and Ellaheim. It's truly a sad thing."

Miria, who was carefully cooling the herring noodle broth and feeding it to Ellaheim, flared up.

"No matter how much Northerners eat, they don't eat monster eyeballs, do they? *I* was the one who was tricked by you into eating such things several times."

Amidst such chatter, the family, with warm stomachs, crossed the grand bridge.

Along the way, they passed through the city of <Winterhorizon>, known as the gateway to the North, which could also be called Lin's physical hometown.

Lin was an orphan who wandered the slums here, until Dean Atlante found him and gifted the boy the name "Spring Breeze."

"…"

The feeling of returning to the North was strange.

Happy enough to make his heart flutter, yet lonely enough to sting his eyes.

Was it because the echoes of 300 years ago were superimposed over all the landscapes of his memories?

"It was right here… that I took the Bandoran rank exam with the Dean, the Senior Disciple, and Gizella."

"Dad's rank exam?"

"Yes… I was scared back then. I was trembling, wondering if the Dean would abandon me and leave if I came here, and then suddenly he held my hand. As if he would never let go."

Rain looked down blankly at his own palm.

The warmth of that hand…

The Dean's smile…

Now, there was nothing he could clearly remember.

'I definitely remember that it happened, but why do those precious sensations sink so easily into the swamp of oblivion…?'

Then, a warmth so similar to the warmth of that day… was placed upon Rain's palm.

"Then Nen will hold Dad's hand now!"

Nen firmly held his other hand, which had been hanging limply in despair.

"Ellaheim says he'll hold this hand!"

On the palm he had been staring at blankly… rested a hand that was impossibly small, yet whose preciousness was infinitely inversely proportional to its size.

"Come on, let's go. We should hurry to our real hometown."

Led by the hands of his daughter and son, Rain had to lower his head to suppress the tears welling up and threatening to fall, moistening the corners of his eyes…

Just like that day, back then…

The Dean holding this hand, the Senior Disciple holding that hand, and Gizella leading the way to the examination hall from the front…