〈 Chapter 287 〉 Your Story (2)
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Raniel van Trias.
This mage, now called the Wise One, seldom understands others. She didn’t want to understand humans who easily give up on themselves and others.
She must stand up.
No matter how difficult it is, she must rise again.
If she doesn’t move forward, all the paths she’s walked will become meaningless, right? Isn’t it a waste to collapse the value of the road she has traveled with her own hands? Doesn’t she need to prove herself by walking until the end?
Raniel has always thought so.
She thought that way and acted that way.
Raniel lived like that. Even when it was hard, she stood up and moved forward again. She walked endlessly without stopping. Once she started on a path, she never wanted to give up.
She walked and walked.
As she walked, she idly looked around… and found there was no one left by her side. She was the only one walking the road. When she turned around, she saw an old companion staring at her, frozen in place.
“I can’t become like you.”
“What are you, Raniel?”
There was a companion who once dreamed the same dream and walked the same road. The eyes of that companion looking at her did not reflect the gaze of someone looking at the same human. They seemed to look at something other than a human.
“You and I don’t match.”
“I can’t walk with you anymore.”
Ultimately, the paths diverged.
Raniel felt loneliness. A deep sense of betrayal as well. However, Raniel would never come to a stop. Even in the absence of companions, she kept walking. She moved forward, alone.
“Anyway, I must say this, Raniel.”
One day, Raniel turned to the side.
There was a path in utter disarray. The one walking that path was just as ragged.
“It seems I’ve already achieved my dream.”
He smiled at Raniel.
In that moment, Raniel realized for the first time that someone was standing next to her. That realization brought Raniel joy.
A companion was born.
A true companion walking the same road.
The fact was both joyful and, in a way, a relief for Raniel. It proved that someone could follow her. Perhaps it was pathetic self-rationalization. A stubbornness of a child unwilling to acknowledge her way was wrong.
But that was fine.
Someone could follow her.
Someone would walk with her.
Just knowing that there was such a person brought comfort to Raniel. She had a chance to look around and escape from the terrible betrayal she felt from Kyle. Thus, while Raniel reflected on her life.
Galahal, who had walked beside her, died.
His path came to an end there.
Whether he accomplished greatness in his final moments or if his life shone brilliantly… the fact that his life had ended was undeniable.
‘I don’t know.’
Under Galahal’s death, Raniel was in anguish.
While affirming Galahal’s life, part of her questioned whether a life that had been cut short had any meaning. Conflicting emotions churned in Raniel’s mind.
Amidst that turmoil, Raniel saw a letter.
“My story ends here.”
“I hope you all will fill in the next part.”
It was a sentence left behind by Galahal.
It was the last line etched in his final words, so it could be called a farewell.
“My life has ended.”
Raniel pondered the farewell.
“Next, it’s your turn.”
She mulled it over and over.
Reciting that sentence, Raniel absentmindedly shuffled through the manuscript. The unfinished novel had empty spots here and there, but parts were filled densely with letters.
[Wise One, Raniel van Trias.]
It was the page where Raniel’s name was written.
At that moment, as she read the first sentence of that page, Raniel’s tightly shut lips parted. From between her cracked lips emerged a dry laugh.
“…Ah.”
The first sentence, the first phrase.
There, written playfully, Raniel read:
“About the great Wise One, my few friends, Raniel van Trias.”
It was a story she had jokingly shared once.
She had said playfully that if someone wrote her story, they must include the word “great” before her name. Galahal stubbornly kept that playful promise.
“Really.”
Raniel tightly grasped the manuscript.
The corner of the manuscript crumpled.
“Really, ah…”
She bowed her head.
Her lips opened and closed repeatedly. Raniel hadn’t been able to properly accept Galahal’s death for the past ten days, feeling disconnected from reality.
Not anymore.
What she had been suppressing for ten days finally burst.
Raniel’s shoulders, bowed down, trembled slightly.
2.
Time passed.
The event, originally planned as an exhibition celebrating the 100 heroes who brightened the kingdom’s history, transformed into an exhibition highlighting Galahal. This was due to the tale of him leaving his autograph just before his death.
To see that autograph and to honor the hero’s final moments, countless people visited the exhibition, and Raniel walked through the heart of the Royal Capital.
Thud.
Having spent nearly ten days with wide eyes, Raniel collapsed into sleep, overwhelmed by fatigue. When she opened her eyes, roughly two days had passed. This was merely an outing after two days.
Raniel walked aimlessly.
The death of the hero and the vacuum it created.
People filled the Royal Capital, talking about such stories. Listening with one ear and letting them flow out the other, Raniel continued to walk. Where to?
“……”
Before she knew it, she stood on the path toward Apuria. Why had she come here? Lifting her head, Raniel gazed at the main gate of Apuria. She had come to meet someone…
“Ah.”
Chloe.
She had to meet that girl.
She thought Chloe would be in the Black Tower, but according to Yetual, it seemed she was staying in Apuria.
“That girl, something has changed.”
“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what has changed, but something has, for sure. You should see for yourself.”
Raniel walked through the Apuria Academy.
As it was still vacation, Apuria was quiet. Before long, she arrived in front of the Central Academic Hall where Chloe was said to be staying.
However, Chloe was nowhere to be found there.
“Chloe is not here.”
Then where could she be? The maid shrugged, seemingly unaware, only telling her that Chloe was heading somewhere early in the morning and would return late in the evening.
Walking in search of Chloe, who could be anywhere, Raniel thought about it.
Chloe must have also been deeply affected emotionally.
After all, it was Galahal who sacrificed himself to save her. Given the girl’s personality, she would feel both guilt and self-loathing. Raniel couldn’t know how it would manifest.
“I must say something.”
As her master, she should say something to guide Chloe, but right now, no appropriate words came to mind.
“Firstly, I’m not in a normal state myself.”
Raniel let out a hollow laugh as she continued walking.
She visited the library, wandered through the gardens, but there was no sign of Chloe. How long had she been wandering around Apuria?
Gwoong.
Suddenly, the mana in the area trembled.
Raniel turned her head towards the source of the disturbance. It was the Spell Training Room. She made her way toward it.
Thump, thrum.
With each step, the shaking intensified.
At the front of the training room, Raniel opened the door. The moment she did, remnants of mana left in the training room rushed towards her with a whoosh.
Raniel’s eyes narrowed.
The Spell Training Room was adorned with all sorts of Resistance Stones.
The floor of the training room was cracked wide open, and training dummies and golems were piled haphazardly. In the center sat a girl.
She was sitting on the floor, drawing a circuit.
After drawing the circuit, she tried to activate it immediately.
The circuit couldn’t withstand the girl’s mana and twisted. The girl gripped the twisted circuit with her bare hands, controlling it, and then proceeded to draw a new circuit.
Then she quickly made adjustments.
Little by little, she completed the circuit.
Once one circuit was completed, she moved on to the next. The girl was endlessly repeating this process.
“Chloe.”
Even when Raniel called out, the girl didn’t respond.
Chloe was focused entirely on the circuit she held. In Chloe’s eyes, what Raniel had worried about was not present.
No self-loathing, no guilt.
What was in Chloe’s eyes was ambition.
A gaze of someone challenged, looking toward higher places. In those eyes, Raniel felt a sense of familiarity. She felt they were alike.
They were the same eyes as Galahal’s.
Support against the wall, Raniel watched Chloe for a while. After a little time passed, she closed her eyes and then opened them again.
She didn’t need any words of comfort. Not from the beginning.
In the end, the answer must be found by oneself, and Chloe had already found her answer. Unlike herself, who was still searching for one.
“…Anyway.”
Was it not said that teaching is not a one-way street?
Sometimes, a master must learn from their disciple too. Truly, it was just as the saying goes. Raniel bitterly smiled and took a step forward. She reached out her hand then gently pulled back.
Clatter!
The circuit that had been twisting in the air disassembled in an instant. Only then did Chloe turn around, and Raniel reached out towards the disassembled circuit as she said,
“Watch closely.”
She touched the circuit.
“This is how you handle a circuit.”
It was embarrassing to have received teachings only while being a master. After all, she too had to give wisdom. Raniel lightly tapped Chloe’s head.
3.
As they exchanged teachings, Raniel observed Chloe’s starlight. The starlight Chloe possessed was different from that of the past. Even the qualities of that starlight had changed.
It isn’t just flowing light.
The flowing light converges in one place, influenced by Chloe’s will. Although still immature, in that starlight, Raniel saw the light of Galahal.
‘In the final moment, the light passed to Chloe.’
What Chloe has is not solely her own starlight.
The starlight of Galahal, who once lived as a hero, also resides in Chloe’s soul. Watching Chloe handling it, a phrase suddenly came to mind.
It was something seen long ago in the northern tower.
The Grand Magus used to mumble it like a habit.
Also, something she was doing.
Humans living in the moment pass on their will to the next. Some create disciples, others leave legacies for the next generation. In this way, will is transferred.
‘To the next, then the next.’
Raniel saw Galahal in the girl before her.
From the girl who had just begun to stand and walk, she saw the traces of Galahal, who had already concluded his life.
Thrum.
After completing a circuit, Chloe leaned against the wall. Raniel sat beside her. Sunlight streamed in through the window of the training room.
The long winter had ended, and spring had come.
A season marking the start of a new year had arrived. Receiving the oncoming spring sunlight, Raniel opened her mouth.
“Chloe.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Are you okay?”
It was a question without context.
To that question, Chloe answered without hesitation.
“I have to be okay.”
She looked at her own hands.
“…My life is no longer just mine.”
There was a responsibility she bore.
The values of someone’s blood spilled, of someone’s sacrifice, are determined by the one who receives it. Chloe felt the weight of responsibility resting on her shoulders.
It was heavy, but being heavy gave it meaning.
“I want to become a perfect hero.”
Chloe said.
“I’m still immature, and I can’t be a symbol yet… I must become a symbol like Galahal.”
Chloe looked at Raniel.
Now that she knew her identity, looking at the Galahal-like figure, she asked.
“This is the right thing, isn’t it?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know.”
Raniel exhaled shortly.
“If it were in the past, I would have been certain it was right, but now I can’t assure you. Finding an answer is far too difficult. I can’t even say which path is right and that heading in any direction is absolutely correct.”
She didn’t know what was right or wrong.
Even if one dreams, it might not come true, and whether they can achieve what they desire at the end of the road is uncertain. There was so much she didn’t know.
“So.”
Raniel smiled gently.
“Walk the path you believe is right.”
In the end, walking the path is one’s own task.
“When you look back on the path you’ve walked, you should be able to say you’ve lived well enough. That you’ve walked a path you can say you achieved your dreams. That will be enough. That’s all…”
As she muttered, Raniel chuckled.
“Still, if it were Galahal, he would probably say this.”
“Chloe, you can do it.”
As Raniel murmured that, Chloe bowed her head deeply. What came to Chloe’s mind was the short time spent learning under Galahal.
She couldn’t trust herself.
Because she couldn’t trust herself, she doubted herself.
Galahal had told her time and again.
“You can do it. Walk the path you believe is right. If you do that, it’ll be joy.” Chloe remembered those words.
Moreover.
“It’s okay.”
“You are still alive.”
She couldn’t forget Galahal’s expression of relief as he looked at her even as he was dying. She could never forget the sight of Galahal pointing at her with his outstretched hand at the last moment.
“I’ll do my best.”
In the end, this was all she could promise right now.
“Really, I will work hard.”
Chloe swallowed her tears and spoke.
“To stand tall and proudly say that I am the one whom Galahal sacrificed himself to save… that I will take his place.”
Wiping her tears, Chloe stood up.
“So, please help me.”
Chloe looked at Raniel and said.
“It’s a determined gaze.”
As she gazed into those eyes, Raniel couldn’t help but smile as she rose from her seat. Lightly ruffling Chloe’s hair, she spoke.
“Okay.”
Raniel stepped forward, positioning herself in the center, crossing over Chloe.
With a snap! of her hands, dozens of circuits emerged around her.
“Let’s do as much as we can.”
The one who had stopped began to move forward again.
To continue the story that had ended.
To complete her own story.
Together with the girl following behind her, she walks.
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