Book 6 Chapter 20
Chapter 144
Ludwig and his wife, abandoning all pretense of aristocratic and household head decorum, ran frantically.
With emaciated legs, Brim Ludwig refused even to be carried and ran, gasping for breath, all the way to the mansion, while Cayvan followed, fretting that his wife might fall.
“Congratulations, Lord.”
“By the grace of the gods, Lady.”
Servants, bowing deeply, opened the doors that blocked their path.
They didn’t even change their mud-caked shoes (if Serina Bran had done this, her governess would have disciplined her strictly), so mud and flower seeds intertwined on the carpet they ran across.
And, and, and… the moment they reached the small banquet hall where the family dined, Brim stopped, bewildered.
“Hey, hey, hmph. Aki might be excused since he only eats street food outside, but you, you’re a boy who learned all your table manners, how can you eat with food all over your mouth?”
“B-brother. That too, goo.”
“Yes, yes. First, look this way so I can wipe your mouth. Oh, it’s messy.”
It was a natural voice… the sound of everyday life that should have naturally been by their side… yet a treasure that had been unjustly stolen…
It was exactly the same.
The voice of her son, whom she had vaguely longed for in her dreams, and had barely dug through her memories to recall…
“Ma, Shi, SSer!”
“Yes, yes, Aki, how’s the chef’s cooking at our mansion? Compared to what I used to make?”
“Ah, ah-baat, d-more, ma, ma!”
“My cooking is more delicious? Ha, you rascal… flattery won't get you anything, you know?”
Sitting next to Bran Ludwig, feeding a child with red hair of unknown origin on his lap, the boy who wiped the area under his nose had black hair.
His eyes, like his father's, were red, and his gaze, like his mother's, was gentle yet firm.
“A-bu, a-bu, a-bu, a-bu.”
“Pipi, eat as much as you like. The corn you protested for whenever you had a chance, I just gave you the whole sack. If you can’t finish it all, you die.”
“Die, die, die, die.”
An uncontrollable tremor surged through Cayvan’s heart. But reason suppressed that tremor.
This isn’t real.
They said everyone died. They disappeared during the Black Spot incident and their survival couldn’t even be confirmed… Yes, confirmation of life or death…
“Rain…?”
At that moment, Brim Ludwig called out the name of her son, who had died half a year ago and whose name was carved on a tombstone, unable to answer now.
“Oh?”
An impossible response came back. He looked up at them, then chuckled and raised his hand as if pleased.
“It’s been a while, Mother. No, Father, it feels like it’s been a really long time since I last saw you. Since you didn’t come for the final exams or the festival.”
Cayvan was about to say, "I was busy, I'm sorry…" without realizing it, but his throat tightened, and no sound came out.
Son.
My proud son.
With faint breaths barely escaping, Cayvan, his vision blurred and shattered, barely leaned against the wall to support his collapsing body.
“I heard from Dean Madelia that I was already a dead man? Miss Casena is doing just fine, though. A funeral, hmm, it felt a bit unfair. It turned out well in the end, though.”
Cayvan finally managed to open his mouth to his son’s nonchalant reply but soon stammered.
“The funeral, I mean, uh, um, that child…?”
“Oh, this one? She’s definitely not my daughter, I was asked to—”
“—Ah-baat.”
“Not your daughter? But she resembles you so much—”
“—Pa-paat.”
“Resemble me? What the hell does she resemble? From hair color to eye color, everything is different—”
“—Brood parasitism, brood parasitism, brood parasitism.”
“Oh, will you two just be quiet, you troublemakers! We can’t even have a conversation!”
“Ta-go-woo-mun-chi!”
“Mungchi, mungchi, mungchi.”
It had been a very long time since the banquet hall was filled with boisterous laughter, but Brim Ludwig heard nothing.
She walked like someone possessed, reaching out to touch the face of the boy who was proudly closing his eyes, waving a fork, and muttering something.
By that touch, by that warmth, she knew instantly. It wasn't any kind of detection magic or sensing magic. She just knew, because she was his mother.
“Uh, Mother?”
She remembered even the cozy body warmth from the day the boy was born…
Unable to feel the heat of the tears streaming down her cheeks, she tightly embraced her son’s face, who had returned from death, and began to cry.
As even Cayvan, who had stumbled over, wrapped his arms around his wife and son and wept silently, Rain’s blinking eyes finally drooped weakly.
“I’m sorry for making you worry.”
Faint tears welled up in his eyes. While he was happy to reunite with his parents, the main reason lay elsewhere.
If only.
It was a really big “if.”
If Rin’s body had been able to awaken in the Main Lesser Elemental Plane 300 years ago, those foolish companions would have greeted him like this.
- Rin?
First, Lista, who stayed by my side until the day I died, would have greeted me…
And as Lista playfully mocked my clumsy movements during rehabilitation exercises, the others would have received word and come one by one.
Kies, from the palace festival.
- Kies…!
- …!
- Ack, stop, stop it! Don't pat me!
Friede, with Turena and Pipi, from <Shriganaqus>.
- Rin?
- Rin, Rin, Rin!
- Master!
Kies would have messed up my hair frantically, Pipi would have pecked my cheek repeatedly, and Turena would have hung on my leg and cried wildly. Lista and Friede would have watched and laughed.
In the end, everyone would have laughed foolishly, forgetting the hardships they had to overcome to reach this moment, and talked about how they finished the expedition.
And the next day, they would have talked about the future, not the past…
- I'll go back to the magic tower first and say hello to Dean Auntie and my classmates.
- And then?
- And then… we decided to go on a journey, all of us.
If I answered, turning my head slightly, shyly, they would have exchanged surprised glances and then burst into laughter. Just as they always had.
I wish it had been like that.
If only it could have been, it would have been so wonderful…
“Awoo?”
“Woah?”
At that moment, Aki and Bran, their mouths covered in sauce, spices, and bits of meat, did not understand the adults’ crying and tilted their heads simultaneously, looking at each other.
* * *
“So you, Rain, were the traitor who led the beastfolk down Trident Point?”
As I recounted everything from being transported to Halvardonia by Karenden’s power to crossing the wall, Father’s eyes widened.
It was my parents’ bedroom. After a bout of crying, Mother was too weak to even sit, so we had to come here.
I placed a hand on Aki’s head, who was sitting on my lap.
“Yes. And this is a clone of Alaqish, the Watcher of Halvardonia.”
“Awoo.”
“Amazing. Such a lovely child… a clone of a true dragon.”
At that moment, Mother, leaning against the headboard of the bed, angrily snapped, her face pale.
“Why did you always choose such dangerous things to do…?”
“Huh?”
“It's fine when you're with a true dragon, but going to the wall alone… and leading the way through Trident Point, what if something happened to you…!”
Then she coughed painfully and spat out blood, and Father hastily wiped the blood with a handkerchief and gave her the herbal medicine the physician had brewed.
“Your mother knows all this and still acts this way. That you had no choice but to do so. She’s just worrying too much.”
“Is Mother’s health… very bad?”
“She stopped eating and drinking, thinking you were dead, so she’s just lacking nutrition. But don’t worry. Now that you’re back, she’ll get better in no time. She’s always been robust.”
Now that I’m back…
It would be painful for my parents, but it was time to relay the story the water dragon Yeriserika told me at Trident Point.
When I finished my story, Mother shook her head violently, as if she couldn’t or didn’t want to understand the situation.
“No, no, I don’t want to send you anywhere now… Who would harm you here? Your father is the head of a magical noble family, and Elector Scion will protect us…”
“I must leave this morning. She said if I stay in one place, another Black Spot incident will happen.”
And… I had to manage a bitter smile, looking down at Aki, who was looking up at me and tilting his head.
“As I told you, I would have died without Alaqish. I promised to take Aki to the South Pole. So he can grow up among his own kind.”
“…!”
“You don’t have to worry so much. I’ve become incredibly strong now. Two weeks ago, I even fought the Magic Castle to a draw.”
In fact, I had placed several restrictions on myself, making it almost a win, but here, I decided to preserve the Magic Castle’s prestige.
Mother stared at me blankly, then buried her face in her hands and collapsed onto the bed, and an uncomfortably parched silence settled.
Breaking that silence with a sigh mixed with a smile, as if she was incorrigible, was Father. Father placed a hand on my shoulder and gestured for me to follow.
“Don’t worry too much about Brim. Her mind isn’t working well right now, that’s why she’s like this. Why wouldn’t it be? Above all, her beloved son has returned only to say he’s leaving again.”
“Father…”
“Of course, I’m not at ease either.”
I was about to retort immediately, but the deep sorrow embedded in Father’s voice forced me to close my mouth.
Why was I so foolish?
When Yeriserika told me to choose, I didn't think about my family at all. In my past life and now, I am invariably foolish.
“But I also know that you must go. However, sending you off empty-handed worries me too much.”
The place Father led me to, refusing even the servants’ assistance, was the lord’s office.
The cool yet damp late summer night air entering through the large arched windows on both east and west, and the starlight permeating it.
In that starlight, childhood memories revived, of Father smiling gently with me on his lap.
- Rain, someday you will sit here. You don’t need to be a great wizard. Just be a kind person to everyone.
A sigh mixed with a bitter laugh escaped me, thinking I was about to make the same mistake as in my past life. I was almost going to realize its preciousness only after losing it again.
In my memories of the past, he seemed so tall, but looking at Father’s back, which was gradually shrinking, my eyes suddenly welled up.
Father lightly pulled out a heavy bookshelf with telekinetic magic, then placed his hand on a massive iron door installed on the wall behind it.
“Father, what is this…?”
“Later, I intended to show you when I passed on the lordship to you. That’s how all succession ceremonies are usually performed.”
Then, five layers of magic circles brilliantly rose from its surface, playing an enchanting melody of light.
Five layers, a 5th-rank (成)?
Who on earth created such a barrier?
The barrier, which recognized the blood of the legitimate heir of the family—the only one allowed entry—flashed brilliantly, and the next moment, *thump-thump-thump*, the iron door opened by itself.
“This room is where the relics of Ryuken Ludwig, our ancestor, are kept. It is also our family heirloom.”
Ryuken Ludwig, the founder of the Ludwig family, was one of the five great archmages active around the 5th century. Relics of that great senior archmage?
When I followed Father into the secret room, I fell silent for a moment. Its appearance, deeply absorbing starlight and then reflecting it as a single flash, was too beautiful.
My father called out the name of the object that only appeared in books chronicling the lives of past archmages.
“Serecia (Blood of Dawn). It is the robe worn by Ryuken Ludwig. You may touch it.”
The fabric of the robe was deep and weighty, as if woven from fresh blood into the shape of clothing. Instead of a hood, its collar rose high to eye level, exuding dignity.
Lost in thought, when I reached out to touch the robe, a laugh escaped me. *Thump, thump, thump*… the magic held within the robe resonated and rippled with the magic in my body.
Father, who was watching me touch the robe with a blank smile, said, pleased.
“As you’ve read in books, each thread that makes up the fabric is an independent magical power. In short, it can be called a robe of magic.”
Of course, I knew it well. Its mysterious power, where the fabric thinned or thickened according to external temperature and climate to ensure the wearer’s comfort, was one of Serecia’s characteristics.
Even more widely known was its magic resistance ability—the power of the robe to defend against attacks directed at the wearer by deploying defensive magic with its own magical power.
Furthermore, it was said that even if the fabric was torn in intense combat, the damaged parts would be mended when the robe’s magical power recovered.
“This actually existed. I thought it was just a legendary artifact from books.”
Father smiled gently.
“Yes, it’s the garment our ancestor always wore on his adventures toward truth. Now it’s your turn to wear it.”