Book 21 Chapter 25

Episode 215

Epilogue of the distant past,

Those left behind in that era (1)

Spring arrived in the northern part of the empire.

No, it was March of Tersia Era 1107, as the yellow dust cleared across the entire world and spring finally arrived.

How long had it been since the sky was seen so clear and blue?

'Even without a letter saying the war is over, everyone must have realized it.'

Atlante smiled gently, looking up at the clear sky.

'And how long has it been since I last saw the children of our magic tower so excited and elated…'

Gizella, the self-proclaimed No.3 of the magic tower, had to return to the magic school for now, but she threatened that she would come back even if it meant taking a leave of absence once Rin returned.

The children, especially the three members of the Wind series, were more enthusiastic about magic training than anyone else.

They said it was to show their grown-up selves when Rin, the eldest brother of the Wind series, returned.

'Ricky is the youngest, yet his magical talent and passion for studying are outstanding. Heh heh, just like Rin used to be.'

And that letter was delivered to the dean by a griffon rider not long after.

Atlante received the letter.

The envelope was sealed with a red insignia, and Atlante knew that this color was used to announce the death of a fallen warrior.

"Dean… I worried a lot about how to deliver this letter. I landed the griffon far away so the children wouldn't know, changed into plain clothes, and walked all the way here. If I had come by griffon, they would have been full of expectations."

Only Atlante in the Osarius Magic Tower knew.

"No, thank you very much for your consideration."

Atlante sat alone all day that day.

She sat alone on the main floor of the magic tower's courtyard, overlooking a pine tree, where Rin used to lean against it and read books.

With the letter envelope on her lap, she gazed at the pine tree until the sun set and the moon rose high in the sky.

- Dean.

- Dean?

- Dean!

It was almost midnight, after all the children had fallen asleep, that Atlante bent over the letter and began to sob quietly.

She recalled Rin's tears flowing down his face as he hastily ate pie on the day they first met.

She remembered Rin's sobs on the stepping stones where the northern river flowed clearly, when she gave him the name Rin.

- I want to become the strongest wizard.

She recalled Rin's insatiable curiosity for knowledge, whose growth was so rapid that he quickly surpassed Atlante, yet his yearning for knowledge never ended.

Rin's life itself was joy…

Atlante had been happier than anyone in the world just by being able to witness his growth by her side, but now that happiness had slipped from her grasp.

'He has become a spring breeze, announcing spring to this world, and then departing and disappearing somewhere…'

For him to become like that.

That's not why I gave him the name Rin.

If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have given him a different name than Rin.

'A different name… I would have given him.'

She should have known how he died, or what he was doing when he died, but she didn't want to know.

She was afraid.

She was afraid that the moment she broke this seal, Rin's death would become merely a reality she had to accept.

'The moment I learn the cause of death, the moment I encounter the cause of death…'

With a beloved disciple…

Whom she could never meet again, never hold again, never speak to again…

She was afraid that the barrier of life and death would be erected…

'If his name hadn't been Spring Breeze…'

If it hadn't been such a name…

Thinking that her disciple wouldn't have announced spring and then fallen, just as his name suggested…

Ashamed that she was weeping more for the sorrow of one disciple than for the grief of the countless people who died in the bloody winds of that turmoil…

'Could I have seen you again with these eyes… You, smiling and saying, "I just got back, Dean"… Could I have smiled with you and embraced you…'

Until all four moons had set and the twilight of dawn spread… Atlante merely sobbed, holding her breath.

* * *

"Master…?"

Toureina met Rin again, who was loaded onto Nils's wagon in the Red Holy Land, <Shuriganakus>.

Rin was different from before.

The Rin she had been with until now wasn't this cold. The chill of death enveloped Rin. Not a metaphorical expression, but an actual cold.

"Rin, Rin, Rin, what are you doing, what are you doing, what are you doing in there."

Toureina just stared blankly, absently, at Rin beyond Pipi, who was pecking at the ice with its beak, but she did not cry.

Because that was the last promise she had made with her master.

Fomas, Rin's senior disciple, seemed frail.

The moment he reunited with Rin, he touched the surface here and there, then collapsed to his knees.

"Ah, Rin, how could you, Rin…"

Toureina did not cry.

Rin had saved Toureina's body and soul, everything, from the threshold of despair where she was about to give up and accept death.

Now it was Toureina's turn to save Rin. It was the natural thing to do, and what had to be done.

'This wizard is weak… The dean of the magic tower must also be weak…'

Toureina made that judgment watching Fomas.

She needed a master of wisdom.

She needed someone like Rin, who could instantly elevate her to a peak trajectory.

Of course, nothing could replace Rin. For her, Rin was the only master.

"You want to learn sorcery from me?"

"Yes."

"You've already learned magic. Why don't you follow that man Fomas? If you say you're Rin's disciple, you'd be welcomed."

"That would be too late."

What would be too late, Toureina didn't explain, but…

Friede could see the fierce determination, like venom, in the girl's eyes at that moment, and the suppressed sorrow dwelling in the shadow of that determination.

"Alright… I could never replace Rin, but I'll guide you. That's… the only way I can repay Rin. Let's go."

Shuan, who had been looking into Rin's soul beside the cart with an utterly devastated heart, sensed something unusual at that moment.

'No. Rin-nim's soul is about to be consumed…!'

What is it? What should I do?

Cold sweat poured like rain from Shuan's forehead, and he felt nauseous.

Was that magic incomplete?

No, just enduring against the King's Abyss for nearly ten days is an unprecedented success.

'It's such a success that my power can't reach beyond that ice… If it continues like this, that soul will be defiled by the abyss, and everything will end!'

Despair known only to him. Despair that could not be shared with anyone…

Then, at that very moment.

The moment the cold, which had been desperately protecting Rin's soul, finally gave way to the power of the abyss and the assimilation was about to begin… a black mist suddenly appeared.

'No, this is…?'

The black mist gently embraced Rin's soul and then took it away from the body.

Only the abyss remained in Rin's body.

The King's Abyss, having lost the soul to defile, was no different from being frozen in the cold.

'Black Cloud… Could this be, Karen-den-nim? You?'

Karen-den, in his battle with Yotos, was completely eroded by the abyss and unable to use any power.

And such a Karen-den…

To intervene in reality, he would have had to do something unreasonable, and yet he took Rin's soul even then.

* * *

"…Really?"

Shuan told this story to only three people: Rista, Friede, and Kiese.

"This must be kept secret. If it becomes known that Karen-den-nim intervened… the Abyss's servants will notice something and target Rin-nim's body."

Rista shook her head.

"They will absolutely not be able to target it. Because I will stay by Rin's side until he wakes up."

Friede said, putting his pipe in his mouth.

"He *will* wake up, right?"

Although Shuan had no definite proof, he judged that since Karen-den had intervened, it would be alright to hold an optimistic outlook for the future.

"Since the soul was rescued before it could be defiled by the King's Abyss, if that person judges that the time has come, they will surely make him wake up."

Yes, this is certain.

The problem was when he would wake up, and this was beyond Shuan's ability to answer.

However, the hero party did not ask that, and one by one began to sob merely at this answer.

"Yes, he's coming back… Rin isn't dead, he's coming back… coming back… to keep his promise…"

Friede shed countless tears, forgetting he had even dropped his pipe to the ground, and even Kiese's tightly closed eyes repeatedly welled up with tears.

"Thank you, Shuan… Truly, truly thank you… for telling us that…"

Rista grasped Shuan's hand tightly with both hands and sobbed, looking quite emaciated with almost no vitality, unlike before.

That emaciation was heartbreaking.

However, Shuan also did not have much time left, and the time had come for the inevitably predetermined farewell.

"There's something else I need to tell you. As I said before, now is not the final time… it is not my time to act."

"…?"

"I must return to the ark. Until the final time comes, in a place no one knows… And then I will wake up again in a place where no one knows me."

As Shuan said that, he felt his eyes swell hotly and his throat clog with tears.

"At that time… at that final time… when I deliver life to those living through that sorrowful time… will you allow me… to say that I… was your friend?"

Friede, still weeping, gave a weak laugh, then took out a precious ruby he had decorated on his pointed hat and handed it over.

"What kind of foolish question is that… This ruby was passed down to me by my master, but it will disappear from history starting today. Because I'm giving it to you. If anyone asks where you got it, tell them I gave it to you."

Kiese unfastened the belt from the quiver he had received from Aena, then fastened it around Shuan's thigh.

"This is the dagger my mother gave me. Shuan, I'll give it to you. As a token of friendship. It has the seal of the Apeltas family on it, and my mother's words to me… the engraving 'To my beloved daughter' is carved into it."

"No, how can I accept such precious things… I cannot accept them. Please don't give them. I cannot receive them."

"No. If someone in the future, Shuan, doesn't believe your words, show them this. And proudly say that all of us were your dear friends."

Shuan finally lowered his head and wept endlessly. Rista, Kiese, and Friede each placed a hand on his shoulder.

"In the future, don't say silly things like 'it's written in the scriptures' or whatever. They'll think you're a cultist scammer."

"Ha, haha, yes… I understand."

"Goodbye, Shuan… We entrust the future of the world we protected together to you."

Shuan, the mysterious shepherd, vanished from history starting from the day the hero party returned to <Shuriganakus>.

And his reappearance in history under his true name, Eos, would be an era 600 years from that time.