EP.467 What the Braver Wishes (1)
The essence of the Braver.
Rugran, the founder of Cartedia, proposed one answer to that. For a long time, Rania and Ayla discussed this answer. The night was deep, and the time to end the conversation was quickly approaching.
“The remaining story then…”
“Yes, let’s continue it in writing.”
After handing over a pair of letter sheets, Rania stood up, draping a shawl over her shoulders. Clack-clack, she made her way as Ayla suddenly spoke up.
“…When the Braver’s subjugation begins.”
She didn’t turn around.
Only Rania turned her head and shot a sideways glance at Ayla.
“Perhaps, Miss Resti’s help will be essential. After all, the talent that was once one has now been split into two.”
But then she asked, “Is it right to involve her in this?”
Rania understood Ayla’s concerns. Resti lost her adoptive father to the Braver. The life of the Elder, who was Resti’s teacher and adoptive father, was shattered by that very Braver.
Is it right to reopen that wound?
Though Ayla questioned it like that… Rania saw it as rather useless concern.
“Well…”
Rania chuckled lightly.
“For that child, it’s probably a wound she has already overcome. I don’t think you need to worry.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. In fact, contrary to your worries…”
Rania casually remarked, “She will likely be the first to come and want to take the lead in the Braver subjugation. If it’s that child.”
Resti Elenoa, the Ashen Witch.
Before the Elder facing death, she had sworn. That she would trample the Braver who ruined your life with all her might. Resti has likely not forgotten that promise.
“I will request cooperation from the Master of the Ashen Tower.”
“Yes, I’ll leave it to you.”
Ayla asked, “So where do you plan to go now?”
“Shouldn’t I return to my stage? I’ve listened well to the story. Now, Your Highness, please do what you must.”
With that, Rania chuckled lightly.
“I will do what I must and what I can.”
With those final words, Rania moved on. She descended the stairs to the first floor. The banquet had already ended, and in the empty hall, Kalt was sitting alone on a chair.
“You’ve arrived?”
“Yeah.”
Rania let out a long breath and released her braided hair from the ties. As she stepped out of the banquet hall, she slowly opened her mouth. The voice that slipped between her lips was stiff.
“I have work to do. A lot.”
“Is that so.”
“It seems I will be busier for a while.”
The end of the Apostate’s subjugation. The curtain has fallen on the banquet.
Now, the place to go next is the next stage. However, this was not what was originally planned. The next stage that Rania had been preparing was not the Braver subjugation.
Swish.
Immediately after arriving at her lodgings, she took off her dress and put on the Hero’s attire. Tying her hair back in a single braid, she lightly shook off the robe embroidered with platinum thread. After rolling down her gloves, Rania let out a long breath.
“I was originally planning to stay for another day or two, but plans have changed. I need to head to the battlefield right away.”
Kalt nodded.
He had also long since changed from his formal wear to his original attire. Without further ado, Kalt pulled out a magical tool from his pocket. Although he briefly set aside the position of the Hound’s leader, he still had communication circuits connected to the Hounds.
Connection, and then a short command.
Kalt, having ordered the Hounds to secretly prepare a carriage in a hurry, let out a long breath. Taking a deep breath, he asked Rania, “Which battlefield do you intend to head to?”
“The front lines. The Zero Branch of the Ashen Tower.”
The Zero Branch of the Ashen Tower.
A special branch of the tower created to carry out the ‘request’ entrusted to the Hero, Rania van Trias. Very few know the true identity of that place, located deep underground at the forefront.
Pope of the Deloheim Church, Zitapan.
Master of the Ashen Tower, Resti Elenoa.
Master of the Black Tower, Yetual.
Master of the White Tower, Selly Devela.
Only a handful of those under them know the identity of the Zero Branch, and even fewer understand the true purpose sought by it. Now, among them, an Elf was added.
“Was it being prepared in a place like this?”
The Great Sage, Cardi van Armiel.
Though he marked the end of a millennium-long story with the conclusion of the Apostate’s subjugation… Cardi decided to stay and assist Rania on her journey instead of leaving the battlefield immediately.
“That day, where we failed to reach, I hope you do reach there. If I can help, I will do so. I must see with my own eyes what lies at the end of your journey.”
“Then go here.”
To Cardi, Rania handed over a map and a key.
“You said you were curious about what I wished for and what I intend to choose in the end? You will find out if you go there. Go and see with your own eyes.”
A place entered through all sorts of security procedures.
A hidden place where neither starlight nor the god’s eye could reach. What was prepared there was a massive research facility.
“…Whoa.”
Suddenly, Cardi chuckled.
The forefront of modern magic was here. Blue, red, white, green, black, and ash-colored towers. Each tower, with its distinct color, had achieved its essence in its respective field.
Rania had gathered those essences here.
What is she intending to create by gathering the essence of magic accumulated by humanity over long ages? It seemed that most of the mages wandering this place did not quite understand what they were making. But Cardi understood.
At the center stood an artifact.
Cardi realized at a glance what that immense artifact was meant for. He could not be mistaken. The place where a human seeking truth ultimately arrives is often the same.
“Babel…”
“What? How did you know?”
At the sound of the voice coming from behind, Cardi turned his head. There stood Rania. Thump, she promptly approached Cardi and stood beside him, overlooking the research facility with a slight smile.
“What do you think?”
“…Isn’t that a concept that only exists in theory? An artifact that is treated as a complete fabrication due to its impossibility to be proven or experimented on.”
“I thought so too.”
Rania leaned her chin on the railing as she spoke.
“After I became superhuman and looked at the world… it’s not just a concept that can be dismissed as mere fabrication.”
On the day she became superhuman after the showdown with Kyle, Rania glimpsed the outside of this world. She read how this world was constructed. If you peel back a layer of reality, what lies beneath is the truth that mages have long dreamed of.
The mage who witnessed the truth realized.
What it is that they must do. Why the Ancient Dragon referred to her as a Guide. Chewing on that shock she felt back then, Rania smiled grimly.
“From the start, mages should have at least one of these, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You must have seen Ganikalt.”
Rania swirled her hand in a slicing motion.
“Masters of the sword can split space and ignore distances merely by swinging their swords, tearing through space to move, and even splitting the heavens…”
Rania sighed.
“Yet, mages have nothing.”
“………”
What kind of barking dog is that?
Rania elaborated on her thoughts with a look that seemed to question Cardi. After a while of listening to her, Cardi opened his mouth with a sour expression.
“So, the point is that you were angered for being utterly defeated by that Kyle guy and made this…”
“No, that’s not it.”
Forget it, let’s not talk.
Muttering like this, Rania gestured toward the fragment in the center of the research facility.
“You’re right. That is Babel.”
Something created by humans to reach the heavens.
Something that humanity has gathered and built.
“My interpretation of Babel.”
“Do you have confidence you won’t get caught? By the Ancient Dragon.”
“A while back, I casually hinted at it, and he seemed oblivious.”
And, well…
Rania murmured.
“If I get caught, so what?”
“Are you thinking of waging war with the Ancient Dragon?”
“If necessary.”
“…What do you plan to do with this?”
Rania didn’t answer.
Instead, she spoke on a different topic.
“The realm that Ganikalt and Kyle reached is Yeocheon (逆天). Gleria reached a level of Gaegyeon (開天).”
The place you reach at the end of the path.
At the end of the path, they will choose. How to interpret the vast sky above them. Ganikalt and Kyle went against the heavens to chop down gods with their human bodies. Gleria opened up the heavens to change the rules.
“And.”
Rania said, resting her chin on her hand.
“What I will choose in the future is Deungcheon (登天). She rose to the heavens and became a new god.”
“Do you wish to be a god too?”
“Of course not.”
Rania shrugged.
“Cardi.”
“Speak.”
“Recently, I discovered the Braver’s purpose.”
“…The Braver’s purpose?”
“Yes. I read the memoir left by the last Queen and the founder of Cartedia… Ah, explaining it is complicated. Later, you can ask the Queen to lend it to you. Anyway, that’s it.”
Tap, Rania tapped the railing with her fingertip.
“Funny enough.”
She spun her fingertip in a circle.
“It seems that both the Braver and I interpret the heavens in the same direction. It’s probably just a slight difference.”
Rugran Clen Cartedia.
The purpose discovered by him and the purpose held by Rania are not vastly different. Perhaps it was because both held the aptitude of a Guide.
“So I understood. What he’s thinking.”
“Stop beating around the bush and tell me directly. What is the Braver’s purpose?”
In response to Cardi’s question, Rania answered.
『What’s your business this time?』
“Oh, my dear Skebal. We’re not so awkward that we need a reason to meet, right? I’d appreciate it if you didn’t glare at me so sharply.”
The Braver tapped his shadows lightly.
“This damn lightning that gets stuck here needs to be poked at more. It seems to react to gazes, you see.”
『…What is that?』
“Damn Ashen, that’s the thing left by my lovely junior.”
『Anyway, state your business. We don’t have much time for chit-chat.』
“That’s too harsh. An old friend came to visit…”
『Acrita.』
At Skebal’s call, Acrita narrowed his eyes.
“I told you not to call me that name.”
『Acrita, the Apostate has been subdued.』
Skebal deliberately repeated that name. He stared directly at the first Braver seated in front of him, continuing his narrative.
『A disaster has once again been subdued. Humanity will march forward again. With that damned Ashen at the forefront. There’s no more ground for us to retreat.』
Skebal’s gaze glowed darkly.
『Our King lost his immortality on that day. From perfect, now he has been demoted to an unstable existence. The only one who can protect him is Ganikalt. You must realize that everything depends on that fickle knight, right?』
“I know.”
『So, you see.』
Crash, Skebal shattered the crystal ball he held.
『I am asking when your grand plan will finally come to fruition.』
Skebal’s psychic energy scratched the air wildly.
『You said you had a plan to raise the King. You’ve been saying that for hundreds of years. When will that plan be completed? How long must we wait longer? Or are you waiting for the entire demonic army to be wiped out before it’s completed?』
“How did you know?”
『What?』
“That’s the right answer, Skebal.”
The Braver clapped, seemingly genuinely surprised.
Clap, clap, the sound of applause echoed.
“The balance has been disrupted due to the subjugation of the Apostate.”
He spread his arms wide.
“With Hero Rania van Trias, the weight that forms this world has completely tilted to one side. Yet our King grows weaker by the day. What does this mean?”
The Braver exclaimed.
“The rules can no longer function as they should. With this, we have justification. Only now has it been born.”
A justification to overturn the rules.
『You.』
Skebal glared at the Braver.
『What are you aiming for?』
“What else could it be?”
The Braver pointed his finger and drew a circle.
“The time has come to return everything to square one. The time has come to tear apart the rules that have bound this world.”
Acrita Clen Arcadia gestured.
Smiling amid the swirling shadows, he whispered.
“Follow me, Skebal.”
The first Braver whispered.
“I will let you catch a glimpse of the truth you so desperately seek.”
