〈 Chapter 324 〉 Turn the Tables (2)
*
The vision had narrowed.
Suddenly, Raniel thought this.
As she was assessing the situation with her narrowed vision, it was obvious that she wouldn’t arrive at an appropriate answer. What jolted her out of this narrow view was amusingly a single phrase from the Princess, who was outside the situation.
“Turn the tables.”
Mulling over those words, Raniel walked.
As she moved, Raniel began to comprehend the situation with an expanded vision. She pondered what she needed to do. What was the essential problem in this situation?
The Elder’s death?
Having to kill her benefactor with her own hands?
‘That can’t be right.’
She wanted death.
Since she merely wished to die as herself, Raniel had to willingly grant that request. There was no judgment of value in it.
She just had to carry it out.
What complicated the situation were the entangled matters behind it. The matters intertwined with that child, Resti. The impact that was about to befall the child who was just beginning to grow. Concerned about that, Raniel pondered and pondered again.
But, thinking back now…
“I’ve hit the first button wrong.”
She had thought incorrectly from the very start.
Ultimately, all of this was merely Raniel’s own thoughts. Without even asking for the involved party’s opinion, she had been thinking and deciding on her own whims. In retrospect, it’s quite a funny thing. Since when had she been like this?
It’s deception.
Judgment must be made by oneself.
The regret that arises from it, the responsibility, and everything else, in the end, must be borne by her alone. It can never be delegated by others.
Thud.
Raniel stopped in her tracks.
The place where she halted was in front of the Ashen Tower. In recent days, she had been visiting the Tower to meet with the Elder, but today was different.
“Professor Rania?”
Raniel looked at Resti.
Facing the girl she had been avoiding, she opened her mouth.
“Hello, Resti.”
Raniel managed a bitter smile.
“I have something to tell you. Do you have time?”
The First Light hoped that those entangled with the Elder would agonize over the choices thrown at them. No matter which choice they made, they would be faced with regret, and while watching those who struggled, it would undoubtedly be quite enjoyable for the one who brought the choices.
With this in mind, Raniel made a decision.
Let’s choose what the Braver would hate the most.
Even if it is the cruelest path.
2.
Resti blinked.
The expression on Rania’s face was different from what she knew. The Rania Resti was familiar with was mysterious, sometimes playful, but never carried a heavy atmosphere.
A light-hearted person.
Someone who seemed to wish to break free from something.
In a way, Resti felt it resembled her own past self, who had been unburdened. Like the self she had when she was younger. However, looking at Rania standing in front of her now, Resti felt a stark sense of discomfort.
Heavy.
Not the twenty-two-year-old professor, but someone who had seemingly experienced much more sat before her.
“Resti.”
She called her name.
Resti slowly nodded.
“Before we begin, can I ask you something?”
She opened her mouth.
Slowly, but with gravity.
“Did my advice help you?”
That was an unexpected remark.
Having received so much advice, Resti pondered for a moment but quickly realized what Rania meant with her next words.
“Did you have no regrets?”
Make a choice without regret.
That was a saying that had fundamentally changed Resti’s life. Because of that phrase, she was where she was now. Without a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
“Yes.”
Resti smiled.
“It helped. A lot.”
It was so much that it couldn’t be expressed in words.
The professor before her had always given her advice and support. The small to big helps made Resti’s path clearer.
“For me, Professor is like a Master.”
“Since I’m a professor, that’s true.”
“Not in that sense…”
Resti shyly smiled.
“A Master I respect and wish to follow, like the Elder. That’s how I see you, Professor Rania.”
“Thanks for saying that. I appreciate it, Resti.”
Rania asked.
“From now on, I have a request for you, but please don’t ask anything. This will be my first and last request to you.”
Rania had never asked anything of anyone, prioritizing her own benevolence. So, this would be the first.
“Will you hear me out?”
“If it’s something I can do…”
Resti slowly nodded.
Rania exhaled briefly and then began to speak. It was definitely not a piece of pleasant news.
An unbearably bitter truth.
She would not reveal everything.
Rania divided what Resti needed to swallow into pieces. Several times, so she could digest it all. Thus allowing her to choose for herself.
“……”
Resti, having heard the story, fell into silence.
She slowly lifted her head to face Rania. Her eyes trembled, but the voice escaping her parted lips did not waver.
“Is that all true?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“That means there is something hidden.”
Resti slowly closed her eyes.
Speaking with her eyes still shut.
“Since you asked, I won’t question it. I’ll trust there’s a reason for your concealment. You’ve always told me words that have helped, so I’ll believe in you this time too.”
There was a relationship built over time.
Resti wanted to trust the words of her second Master. Though it was hard to believe, she wanted to believe in Rania’s words.
“But.”
She opened her closed eyes.
There was no tremble in her gaze.
Resti looked at Rania with reddened, bloodshot eyes. It seemed she was about to burst into tears immediately, but the girl did not shed a single tear.
“I get to make the choice, right?”
Rania nodded.
“That’s what I intended to tell you.”
Resti stood up.
Rania watched her for a while before rising. No matter what choice she made, her responsibilities remained unchanged.
“Resti.”
Rania spoke.
Resti turned to look back. To Rania, who was biting her lip, Rania only had one word to say.
“Make a choice without regrets.”
That was something she had once said to her.
*
Krenbel’s consciousness was unclear.
He would doze off several times a day and then suddenly awaken. It was the same this time. Krenbel painfully propped his upper body against the bed.
‘How long have I slept?’
He couldn’t tell.
In a daze, the Elder looked beside him.
There was a single chair. Resti Elenoa was sitting in it.
“Resti? When did you arrive?”
“…Just a little while ago.”
Her voice was muffled.
Her head was bowed, so her face was hidden, but her shoulders were slumped. Krenbel called Resti gently.
“What happened?”
“……”
“Tell me. What happened that made you…?”
“I heard from Professor Rania.”
The Elder’s body jolted slightly.
“…What?”
“I was told that in a month, your time would come to an end.”
Resti lifted her head.
Her eyes were tinged with red.
“The time given will end. Your life will soon be over. Elder, you only have a month left…”
Resti swallowed hard.
“You said that even after your life ends, you would exist in another form. That you would continue to live as something else, keeping this body intact…”
As the Elder swallowed audibly, Resti continued speaking.
“But you said you don’t want that.”
So.
“You are hoping for a proper death…”
Is this true?
There was no need to ask.
The Elder’s expression was already telling the answer.
“It’s all true.”
“…I’m sorry, Resti.”
“I want to ask why you kept it from me, why there’s only a month left, why it’s this way — I really want to know — but I won’t ask.”
I was told not to.
I was told I would know when the time came.
Resti opened her mouth, swallowing tears.
“So, you said you had a request?”
The Elder had asked someone else to kill him. The request had gone to the next Master of the Ashen Tower, Raniel van Trias. Rania had conveyed that to Resti.
“The Ashen Mage will fulfill the Elder’s request.”
“But, if you wish for it.”
“You can leave that role behind.”
Make a choice.
Whether to shift the Elder’s final request to another or to tie it up with her own hands. The one to choose was Resti herself.
“……”
Resti fell silent for a moment.
Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she spoke resolutely to the Elder.
“There’s no need for that.”
Resti looked straight at the Elder.
“If there’s something you wish for at the end, it should be fulfilled by me.”
She wanted to tie the knot herself.
That would prevent any regrets.
“……”
Before the determined gaze of Resti, the Elder swallowed hard. The Resti he had worried about and fretted over was no longer there.
What stood before him now was not the young, immature Resti the Elder had known.
The girl looking at him with resolve was now a fully-fledged Mage. Not a child he had to protect, but a completed human being.
“Aha.”
The Elder let out a chuckle.
“This is something…”
Now that he thought of it, had it really been four years since he had fallen asleep? Four years. A short time, perhaps, but enough for a child to become an adult.
“You’ve grown well, Resti.”
The Elder offered a bittersweet smile.
The aged man raised a hand. With fingers as thin as a withered twig, he stroked Resti’s head. Resti bit her lip, still bowing her head.
“I’m…”
“It’s fine. You don’t have to say more.”
The Elder spoke.
“I thought you were a child, but you’ve grown into an adult already. Time really flies.”
His time had stopped four years ago.
This child’s time continued to flow.
Watching the grown child, a parent smiles.
“Yes, Resti.”
The father smiled.
“Make a choice that you won’t regret.”
3.
A few days later, Rania faced Resti, who came to her. The girl who had sung of joy since the Elder opened his eyes was not there anymore.
What stood before her now was a Mage.
“I’ve made my decision.”
Resti said, looking at Rania.
“So please, tell me.”
Rania had said that day.
If you decide to fulfill the Elder’s wishes with your own hands, she would teach her the method. She would show her how to sever ties with something that had departed from life.
“Please, tell me the method.”
Rania nodded.
The one she had been postponing and delaying.
The Watcher, the one who reads the context.
Rania sensed that the time had come for that talent to fully blossom.
Time flowed.
A month that would be longer than any before.
*
“……”
Krenbel looked down below with drowsy eyes.
Blood flowed from his mouth, nose, and eyes.
Crimson blood dripped down.
‘There’s still some time left.’
With ten days left, Krenbel sensed death approaching moment by moment. He felt his body being consumed by shadows. However, for some unknown reason, Krenbel’s consciousness did not fade.
Rather, it became clearer.
This fact terrified Krenbel.
‘Why?’
Being devoured by shadows.
The Braver was taking over his body.
Krenbel had anticipated that if this happened, his consciousness would be pulled away, leading to his complete death. But that was Krenbel’s misperception.
The shadow did not take his body.
It did not seize his consciousness either.
It simply merged.
Krenbel felt his values shifting.
The beliefs he had held for so long were wavering. Maintaining clarity while his foundation was being shaken. Krenbel felt as if he were slowly losing himself in madness. It was a terrifying horror.
Memories became entwined.
Character, values, and foundations blurred.
To retain his identity while succumbing to madness was a fear beyond Krenbel’s imagination. Krenbel reached out and touched his mouth. Despite the blood flowing, his lips curled into a smile.
Laughter echoed in his ears.
The echoing laughter was familiar.
Krenbel slowly lifted his head and looked at the window. The reflection of himself in the glass was smiling. The oddly twisted lips did not belong to a sane human.
They were those of a Braver.
Madness whispered in Krenbel’s ear.
Fulfill your duty as a Prophet.
*
