Book 20 Chapter 24

The Last Rest,

In the Holy City Shuriganacus (1)

As soon as Rin opened his eyes, he checked the unfamiliar ceiling, then abruptly sat up in bed.

'My body feels strangely light.'

It was more than the healing Fride usually provided… It must have been due to the power of the Dragonkin.

'Or was it? Was the fight against the Neo-Heavenly Kaditpol Knights all just a dream to begin with?'

It was highly probable.

How could such a thing be possible?

To be able to converse with a being recorded as the [Strongest Archmage] across a thousand-year barrier of time, using magic.

"Kkyu-u-u-iing!"

At that moment, Asruba, the Ice Dragon, who had been curled up by Rin's bedside, affectionately began to lick Rin's cheek.

"M-mastah-a-a!"

Tureina, likewise, rushed forward, shedding tears and snot, but was stopped by Rin's iron fist.

"Get lost. I hate dirty things. Especially a kid's snot is the worst. It wasn't just once or twice that the Gorilla Mages from the Magic Tower got their snot all over expensive books, damaging them."

"Hee-ing…"

"Where is this? And when is 'now'?"

"Th-th-this is… the Eastern Hospital of <Shuriganacus>… It hasn't been quite a day…"

"We left at noon then… and fought for nearly 12 hours, so the battle would have ended in the dead of night… Has it not passed midnight yet?"

The moonlight pouring through the hospital room window held many implications.

'The moonlight, so clear?'

Rin sprang from the bed, threw open the window, and looked out at the city bathed in beautiful moonlight.

Volcanic ash still raged like a storm in the south and west, but the northern and eastern quarters were clear with moonlight and starlight.

It was proof that the power of the Abyss was slowly retreating, and that the fierce battle with the Neo-Heavenly Kaditpol Knights, which he had doubted might be a dream… was all real.

- How vast an effort had he put in over those 9 years, after all…

Rin thought of Jurak Kepel again. In the future, he wouldn't meet anyone like that. A person who could fill the solitude of his soul…

'Stop, stop it.'

Even if I grieve, I won't be able to meet him again, and one encounter is enough. That alone was an immense stroke of luck.

"Let's go, Tureina!"

"Ah, you need to rest, M-Master Fride said…!"

"Tell 'rest' to eat shit! Now is the best! When you think of <Shuriganacus>, you think of the Grand Library of the Holy City! Let's go see some books!"

Tureina was inexplicably pleased to see the lamentation that had momentarily clouded Rin's expression instantly transform into excitement. She smiled brightly and followed Rin out.

[(ㅇ-ㅇ)?]

Guarding Rin's door was Kies, the one with the best detection abilities, in preparation for a possible assassination attempt by Zernix.

"Kies, do you want to go see books too?"

Rista was like a symbol of hope, and Fride was the pillar of healing and relief, so they couldn't just stay by Rin's side.

[(ㄴ-ㄴ);;;]

"Shut up and follow! Do you want to die?"

[ㅇㅋ;;;]

<Shuriganacus> was devastated by lava overflowing from the volcanic region when the King's seal was about to be broken, with the exception of the eastern part of the city.

Most of the workforce was conscripted for city restoration under the command of the Dragonkin, and casualties and refugees were accommodated in this eastern urban area.

The eastern urban area of <Shuriganacus> looked so peaceful that it was hard to believe it had been the center of great chaos just half a day ago.

'Fires rising in various parts of the city… The Red Dragons must be clearing out the remnants of the Abyss.'

The Grand Library of the Holy City was located right in this eastern part. Although it was close to the center, it miraculously remained unharmed.

The witches who managed the entrance had either died during the rotation or were deployed for casualty healing missions, so the library was protected only by simple magic.

It was a barrier that Kies could easily penetrate with a single arrow using just 10% of his power.

"Wow…"

The Grand Library of the Holy City, what it presented to Rin was a feeling close to ecstasy.

The 10-story building was entirely open with a multi-level structure, and the ceiling was so high that footsteps echoed quietly.

The ceiling was dome-shaped and entirely made of glass.

The moonlight from overhead shone brilliantly, and the mysterious metals inside reflected that light, making separate lighting unnecessary.

Even half of the outer walls were glass. The technology to erect full glass panels as walls was beyond even the A'in.

Each of those glass panels was alternately colored with the hues of dawn and dusk, which were originally indistinguishable colors, yet they were clearly discernible, which was marvelous.

"Are all these books?"

And…

In such a vast space…

Books occupied half of the total volume of that space…

"This, it's all books?"

"Kkyuut!"

"Even if I just ate, pooped, and read books all day here, wouldn't I still not be able to read them all in my lifetime?"

"Th-this library is the [strongest]. Hmph…"

"Hey, didn't I tell you not to imitate me?"

[(ㅋㅅㅋ)]

Rin soon pulled out nearly twenty books he wanted to read, especially those related to the Runes of Creation, and stacked them like a tower on the table.

'The Mad Dragon said that to approach truth, I must fully make the runes my own, so this is good, very good.'

The Crimson Sun Shurigan believed that knowledge was love and the path to freedom, so it is said that when <Shuriganacus> was founded, this library was inscribed first in its blueprints.

In that process, the archives of <Those Who Came> were also organized into books, so it was natural that books about the Runes of Creation were most abundantly stocked in this Holy City library.

Of course, Rin had no such background knowledge; for him, simply having many books was enough.

'Thanks to the hint from the Mad Dragon, I was able to create the Jeoseoswaerannyeon and also complete the Noejangbanghyeol. Yoo-hoo~! My motivation is just soaring!'

Rin was different than usual.

Unlike usual, he could see himself explaining to himself how excited he should be right now.

He couldn't help but be so.

'Strange.'

It was strange.

Utterly, it was strange.

There was little strength in his hand as he turned the pages, and no matter how much he skimmed the text, it wouldn't sink into his mind.

'Normally, with so many books, I'd be happier than anyone in the world just thinking about reading them all.'

Rin might have considered books as a channel for communication.

A channel to communicate with the enlightened predecessors he couldn't meet or reach now.

However, it was strictly one-way. A dialogue was impossible; only listening to their words was possible.

- No, how about trying it this way?

Rin's eyes trembled at the echo of the senior Archmage, which resounded so clearly in his mind.

Yes, that's right…

I am, right now, missing the time I spent with Jurak Kepel.

'Not even a day has passed, it's only been half a day.'

Rin silently gazed down at the same page for a long time.

His eyes were clearly on the text, but his consciousness had once again drifted back to that ecstatic time.

No matter how much he tried to recall and remember, the meeting itself was short, making the time for reminiscence cruelly brief, which was sad.

"Kkyuu…"

Subal licked Rin's eyes. To hide the hot tears welling up, Rin pushed his conical hat back onto the nape of his neck, then rested his arms and head sequentially on the table.

'I like books. I've liked them even more since leaving the Magic Tower.'

Old books have a certain scent, and that scent was the same no matter which region or library he visited.

With that same scent, he could return home, if only for a moment… That's why he liked books.

In that home, there was the clamor of the Wind Series siblings, the smile of his senior brother Pomas, and the laughter of Dean Atlante.

But Jurak Kepel was not in that home.

No scent would be able to remind him of Jurak Kepel.

In the future, no catalyst would be able to vividly recall his time with him.

'If only I had been born a thousand years earlier, could I have become Jurak Kepel's disciple?'

He wished for it, but then the thought that he wouldn't have met Dean Atlante made him give up.

He had to choose one of the two.

Just as it was then, it was the same now; the situation where he couldn't, didn't, and wouldn't be able to choose both felt tragically lonely.

'Why can't I choose both Dean and Jurak…?'

Rin didn't know that it…

though he had never shown it, was a thirst stemming from the 'absence of family' that had tormented the boy his entire life…

He couldn't know that it was the expression of a child's heart, inevitably wishing to receive love from both a father and a mother…

"Mastah."

Just as he was about to sink into such gloom, such darkness… the shadow cast by his conical hat was lifted, and moonlight poured in.

Through his vision, transparent with tears, beneath clear, shining blue hair in the moonlight… his disciple's smile was visible.

The disciple shyly smiled as he draped a blanket he'd found somewhere over the boy's shoulders.

"P-please sleep in the bed. You shouldn't catch a cold!"

That summer day's memory…

In the solitude arising from this absence, the memory of that summer day when he resolved to absolutely watch over this kid until he grew up…

'This kid, at least this kid, let's not let him become like me.'

But the boy…

couldn't keep that resolution…

And so, his disciple… crushed by a solitude tens of times greater than what the boy felt, agonizingly died… and was inevitably swallowed by the Abyss, wasn't he?