Book 21 Chapter 26
Chapter 216
Epilogue of the Distant Past,
Those Left Behind in That Era (2)
Niels Blantz decided to part ways with Link in <Karsiko>, the Green City at the heart of the Tersh Archipelago.
“Link, you stay here.”
Link had reverted to his former youthful appearance due to the refined Heartburst bullet, slightly more mature than before becoming an experiment, in his late teens.
However, his naturally sturdy physique made him look like he was in his twenties.
Now there were no problems with his speech, and it was deeply regrettable that Rin hadn't been able to witness this.
“No. I want to go with you.”
“Don't talk nonsense! Look at this peaceful city. You're a hero here! No one has forgotten your heroic struggle when you fought the Sea Captains last time. Here, you can enjoy a peaceful life.”
“Then… Niels? Why isn't Niels staying here?”
Now, for Link to meet Niels' gaze, all he had to do was kneel on one knee.
Niels grasped Link's shoulders.
Tears streaming from his eyes couldn't be fully absorbed by his bushy beard and flowed down to the ground.
“Link, you make a family here. Not like family, but a real family… So that, so that when Rin comes later, you can surprise her. Didn't we… make that bet? Making this island entirely your kingdom wouldn't be bad either.”
“So why isn't Niels staying here…”
“I owe Rin. I have to find the artifact to awaken Rin. Although we're now cut off from the Demon Realm and can't go down there, there are still many artifacts at Trident Point, and there might be a way to melt Rin's ice and save her life.”
Chief Tinkerer, Niels Blantz.
After being appointed a Three Kingdoms certified Meister at age 37, the days he stayed in his home country were extremely short.
He is regarded as a master of Trident Point exploration, having built the <Extreme West Branch> on the swamps, and is credited with advancing exploration progress by hundreds of years.
He explored Trident Point until his last moments and ended his life there.
“So Link, until I bring Rin here, you meet a woman you love and have lots of children. Understood?”
Demon Slayer, Cassel Linkan.
He fathered many descendants, and later the Tersh Archipelago was indeed named Linkland after him.
That he longed for Rin until his dying breath can be easily inferred from the traces left on those many islands.
* * *
“I'm here, Brother Rin.”
March, Tersia Era 1168.
61 years after the death of the 11th Archmage.
On a spring day in an era where the hero who quelled the turmoil had also gone missing, and all his companions had disappeared.
“This is my second time.”
An old woman came to visit the Archmage enshrined in the Papal Office, sat opposite him, and smiled warmly.
The old woman's attire was peculiar.
Peculiarly, it was identical to the attire of the Archmage trapped in ice… that is, a staff, hanbok, and a conical hat.
“A very long time has passed since I graduated top of my class from <Delaiten> and saw him.”
In fact, there's nothing strange about it if one knows how the Osarius school developed under the 11th Archmage in line with the times.
Currently, Osarius is a major school of magic.
It is a group of masters of beast-human magic, and like Rin, they are practical magic users in combat magic… masters of Ice (氷) and Lightning (雷) attributes.
“When I wished to see my brother as a reward for graduating top of my class, that wish came true… and then all the other students followed suit, so now it's become a custom for all <Delaiten> valedictorians to come here, I hear. I'm sorry.”
And this old woman is a living witness to history, having watched the prosperity of that school… no, from when the school was still a small to medium-sized one in a remote mountain village, until it became a major school of magic.
This woman's name is Riki.
She was named Riki, meaning 'winter wind,' and was a Glados (4-star) wizard who succeeded the lineage of Atlante-Phomas-Gizella to become dean, passionately guiding her students until the Osarius school gained the stature of a major school of magic.
“Now the Dean, the Grand Senior Brother, and Sister Gizella… everyone has left my side. I've grown so old… but you, Brother, are still the same. Just as you were… sitting leaning against the pine tree in our magic tower's courtyard, reading a book…”
No answer came to her words. No answer would ever come.
Nevertheless, she spoke.
Because now, in this place, before the 11th Archmage, she could freely shed the tears she had suppressed her entire life to maintain her dignity and decorum as the dean of a major school of magic, reverting to the youngest child who used to whine and be pampered more than anyone else in her distant childhood…
“Sometimes, no, often, no, every moment of my life, I thought… what if your talent wasn't so outstanding… and you could have stayed by our side… So… if I had seen you, Brother, take over the dean position from Dean Atlante… and our school didn't necessarily become a major school of magic… just that alone… would have made us hundreds of times happier than now…”
Riki, the winter wind, who had been sobbing and weeping, soon put her hands together, touched her forehead to them, and bowed respectfully.
The Great 11th Archmage.
Towards Rin, who, before all that, in some corner of the courtyard of their secluded but modest magic tower, had silently chuckled while scattering feed to chicks with Syu (summer wind), Saruen (autumn wind), and Riki.
* * *
“The saying that drunkards and chain-smokers die young doesn't seem to apply to you and me at all.”
Friede, the Priestess of the Fire Dragon, met her old friend again after 16 years. Kies, the Continent's Foremost Bow, smiled faintly.
The two heroes had changed so much compared to their youth when they had journeyed together to the ends of the earth.
Their hair had turned white, and their skin was covered in wrinkles and age spots, telling of the passage of time they had lived.
“Kies, Rista and Rin… were they truly happy?”
Friede finally got to the point, setting down the teacup Kies's disciples had brought on the dojang's main hall floor.
“Rin died without even getting to become an adult, and Rista spent her whole life waiting for Rin after their journey ended, didn't she?”
“…….”
“They parted ways before they even truly knew each other's feelings, so were they really happy?”
A fleeting, bitter smile, more silent than the tea leaves floating in the teacup, formed on Kies's lips. A long silence followed.
“So about that, Kies, I… I'm going back to the ends of the earth.”
“……?”
“The Red True Dragons said they would teach me the training method to ascend as a dragon. Of course, the probability of failure is much higher, but I've decided I must do it anyway.”
Friede sadly stroked the head of Pipi, a family member she might now be separated from forever.
“Because that guy is a fool… he'll surely suffer his whole life believing he couldn't keep his promise to us, and then die, won't he? Then… that fool would be too pitiful.”
“…….”
“So I, having acquired a dragon's body that transcends time… will convey Rista's feelings and yours to Rin. Tell him there's no need to be sorry. Rather, it's us who are sorry. For not being able to wait until you returned. And thank you. For saving all of us back then.”
Transparent dewdrops formed at the corners of Kies's eyes as he looked up at the clear sky, at the clouds drifting lazily in the distant upper air.
The two old generals finally lowered their heads and began to weep silently.
After their weeping ceased, Friede sprang up as if she had no regrets, and put on her shoes.
“Hey, from the moment we first met until now… it's really been fun, you damn drunkard. I'm refusing a sentimental farewell… so let's just end this farce with 'See you again in heaven.'”
And then, and then….
She stood there until the three suns, which had been in mid-heaven, finally set as dusk, and then, with difficulty, after a long while, she finally left her friend's side with these words.
“Then, now… goodbye.”
* * *
“Rista Alter Shirpeng.”
Rista Alter Shirpeng, who had triumphantly returned as a hero, lived nine more years until 1116, after returning to the Papal Office in 1107 with the blessing of the Mad Dragon.
“Yes, Your Excellency Yoshuhar.”
She never left Rin's side, except for going to the Twilight Flower Garden with her hero party companions around that time each year.
“Do you know? Your life's term now has but one day left.”
Her stubbornness was such that she had promised to stay by Rin's side until he awoke, and if he awoke and she wasn't there, having broken that promise, she would be scolded by Rin for life.
“I see.”
I'm sorry, Rin….
No longer….
Can I be by your side….
“I know. That's why I'm carving this.”
Rista, intuiting her end even without Yoshuhar telling her, was carving a letter onto the surface of the ice.
She simply wrote her feelings.
That he didn't need to be sorry about them, and that she hoped he wouldn't be bound by them but live his own life, and… that she was sorry for not being able to keep her promise.
“The Mad Dragon seeks you.”
Yoshuhar said with sad eyes.
At this time, Rista's body was such that she couldn't walk without assistance, and her limbs were skeletal, only bone remaining.
Her body was already dead, but the repercussions of forcefully maintaining her breath with a dragon's soul had caught up to her at the end of her life.
“Me…?”
It had truly been a long time since she last met Haraderiman, the Mad Dragon.
The Mad Dragon took pity on Rista and commanded the Wyverns to share more Dragon's Orbs, which was the secret to Rista living nine more years.
The Mad Dragon subsequently delegated most external affairs to the Five-Lord Cardinals, likely because it had exhausted most of its lifespan during the recent turmoil.
“Child of Courage, have you come?”
The Mad Dragon greeted Rista at the top of the Papal Office, in a place called the Heavenly Palace (天宮).
From here….
The prosperity of that grand peaceful and prosperous era, known as the Golden Age, could be seen at a glance, and since the Mad Dragon liked to see the smiles on the faces of all people, this was the Mad Dragon's abode.
“Yes, Your Holiness. Please forgive my rudeness for not being able to stand on two feet and relying on Your Excellency Yoshuhar's support.”
“Do not speak thus. There was no rudeness anywhere in your life or actions.”
“Uh, um… if it's not urgent… I… I would like to be by Rin's side…”
The Mad Dragon, who had been looking out of the Heavenly Palace, turned to Rista with an exceedingly sad smile.
“Child, you will not be able to meet the child of spring wind again. That is destiny.”
“…….”
“However, I do not like the word 'destiny,' and I believe that the providence of creation cannot possibly be this cruel. Therefore, I appealed your situation to my father, and I was able to hear his answer.”
The Black Sun Karenden had completely vanished, making communication impossible even for the Three Divine Dragons, but at the moment of Rin's death, that passage had momentarily opened.
“If your soul departs to heaven, it will then be too late as it will be beyond my jurisdiction. Therefore, I shall first take your soul.”
“My soul…?”
“When Father intends to manifest his will through the child of spring wind, he will form a new body, as the Creation Gods did, and into that I shall breathe your soul.”
In a way, this could be considered a rebellion against the providence of creation, which governs life and death.
If there were a price, only the Black Sun Karenden and the Mad Dragon Haraderiman would pay it.
The Mad Dragon did not elaborate on such matters, but only spoke of the hope and despair that Rista needed to know.
“However, the memories of having been with the child of spring wind will not exist in that new body.”
“They won't exist… at all?”
“But the soul will remember… if the bond between you two is truly the will ordained by creation, you will meet again even without the memories of the flesh. The decision is yours.”
Rista surely thought she was smiling, but wondered why the transparent, hot tears continuously blurring her vision wouldn't clear.
She thought again.
It's fine even without memories.
It's fine even if we meet and don't become entangled by fate.
Even if it means only our souls brush past each other again, if I could see Rin, revived and healthy, pursuing his own dreams, just one more time.
“Yes, I'll go… please let me go… to the era where Rin is…”
▶ ▶ ▶
“…Daddy, Daddy, Daddy's back!”
On that distant day… the noise of reality, ending a dream of a faintly longed-for era, is heard.
“…Hey, be quiet! She's sleeping! Don't wake her up!”
“…Qui, quiet! Nen, be quiet!”
“…Ta-da, guess what I brought today? Our Nen's absolute favorite castella! Let's secretly finish it before she wakes up. You're ready to devour it in one go, right?”
“…Castella! Castella bread! Nen loves castella so much!”
“…Yeah, you like it even more because it's yellow like you, right?”
Rista, no, the hero's soul, now dwelling in the new body forged by the Mad Dragon, that is, Miria, opened its eyes.
“……?”
“…….”
“……!”
She saw the man's two eyes staring blankly at her.
The bread crumbs heavily stuck around his mouth didn't bother her that much.
Those eyes, yes, she had longed for those eyes. And the man must have felt the same way.
“No, no! I didn't eat it. I only pretended to eat it. I was worried our good Nen would feel guilty and not eat if I told her to eat it all by herself.”
“I feelth guilty!”
“Ugh, that's gross! Nen! I told you to open your mouth only after you've eaten everything inside! Last time you did that, you splattered it all over Mir's book and got thoroughly scolded by Mir!”
The man was trembling in fear that Miria might exact an iron-fisted retribution, but Miria chuckled at the sight of him.
“Gasp… why is she smiling? Nen, we're dead.”
“Nen is alive!”
“Hey, Miria! It's scarier when you smile, so just get angry! Ask us why we ate it without you.”
When Miria smiled sweetly, the man finally started sweating profusely all over and became submissive.
“There's one piece left here… Nen took a big bite, but Nen's saliva is clean so it should be fine?”
“Nen's saliva is clean!”
“Yes, your vocabulary has grown a lot. Well done. Anyway, could you at least taste this and somehow, perhaps, calm down a little?”
Miria smiled again and shook her head.
“It's okay. I'm not hungry. Let Nen eat.”
“No? From that smile just now, Nen and I definitely felt the killing intent of a lifetime, didn't we?”
“Oh my… Is this like 'a guilty conscience needs no accuser,' are you confessing or what?”
She could only laugh. But she didn't feel the need to explain the reason for that laugh.
Yes, no need to explain.
Because now… Rin, I can walk in the same time as you. That's enough.
“I just smiled because… I had a somewhat nostalgic dream after a long time… that's why.”
▶ ▶ ▶
Having returned from all his memories, from the landscapes of 300 years ago, Yonghyun could see nothing through his transparent, wavering vision.
‘Ah, ah, ahhh….’
Why, why had I forgotten?
How could I have forgotten?
This life, this precious friend who created connections with all the relationships in my past and present lives.
‘Asurva, my old friend….’
Only then did he understand.
Only at that moment did he truly know.
The shadow of sorrow cast over his life, the true nature of the veil of grief that no reunion could dispel.
‘Clearly, Asurva had a future in the battle against the bloodline.’
Asurva had sacrificed his own future and chosen his friend's life.
Just as Rin sacrificed his future and chose the lives of his hero party companions, Asurva also made such a choice for Rin.
The name Asurva… deeply submerged beneath the swamp of souls, where light couldn't reach, its true nature unrecognizable.
“Nen, thank you…”
It was Nen who illuminated that fragment of fate. Nen's light had found that fragment and returned it to Yonghyun's embrace.
“Truly, truly thank you…”
Yonghyun saw a vision.
Rin as a child, weeping in front of the swamp of nightmares, having lost a precious treasure….
A vision of Nen finding the boy's treasure in that vast swamp and gently placing it in his delicate hands.
“You truly are a child who weaves hearts together…”
When Yonghyun took Nen's hand, Nen rested her cheek on it and shook her head.
“Compared to the love Father gave me, it was a very insignificant thing. I'm truly happy to be able to repay you this way before you depart on a long journey.”
That was precisely what happened before the final farewell in the Twilight Flower Garden.
It is impossible to express in words the influence that Thunder Incense Setsunen had on Yonghyun's peaceful repose.
Yonghyun had sought to bestow light upon Thunder Incense, to make her know and understand, and this could be seen as the moment he received that light back in full.
▶ ▶ ▶
“…Father?”
“…Father!”
“…Father, now please rest in peace.”
He should answer the children calling him, he should say aloud, “Yes, what is it?” but….
His exhausted body could not utter such a voice….
And so, his body fell asleep along with the twilight flowers that awoke with the twilight light and then slept again….
“Rin!”
When he opened his eyes again, what unfolded before him was a miraculous sight.
Rather than a miracle, it was a scene he had longed for and dreamed of his entire life.
At the boundary between the mortal realm and paradise, all his fellow students of the Osarius school were waiting for Rin, and the Dean greeted him.
“Was your journey pleasant?”
To Dean Atlante, who untied the string of his gat (traditional Korean hat) and removed his conical hat, Rin made a deep bow, announcing his return with tears.
“Yes, Dean. I actually have so, so many stories I want to tell you.”
Rin, regaining his composure and standing up, looked directly at the snowflake hidden pristinely white on Winter Wind Riki's hair, beyond her….
“Sval, to you too. You waited a long time, didn't you? Sorry I'm late.”
Sval hesitated for a moment, seemingly flustered that he had been recognized.
But that was only for a moment.
Sval, once again, scurried and flew over, just like in the distant past, rubbing its downy feathers against his cheek.
“Gyuung!”
▶ ▶ ▶
Thus, Yonghyun's story, accessible to future generations of humanity, completely ends.
However, if one wishes to understand in detail what Yonghyun's life and character were truly like, the method is by no means difficult.
One simply needs to observe the three legacies Yonghyun left on this earth, the Three Divine Dragons. For they reveal it through their lives.
The eldest daughter, Achillea of Crimson Flame, embodies Yonghyun's noble character.
The second daughter, Setsunen of Thunder Incense, embodies Yonghyun's admirable benevolence.
The third son, Mirngardia of Azure Star, embodies Yonghyun's outstanding intellect.
Those great dragons leaned on and supported each other, achieving a peace in a world without Yonghyun, as if he were still present.
Thus, in the final era, which could not be protected or endured by anything, they safeguarded the entire world, allowing it to greet a new dawn.
In this era, where the names Demon Lord, Hero, and Dragonkind have become mere fictions in fairy tales, there is a being who appears, draped in golden radiance, in this Twilight Flower Garden at some point every summer.
It is said that she quietly smiles before a certain stone fragment, murmurs some story, and then vanishes without a trace.
The Archmage of the Hero's Party Reincarnates
Prequel: The Archmage of the Hero's Party Story End