Episode 866 Talent and Flame (3)
Myla sniffled, covering her swollen eyes with her hands. She had cried so much that her handkerchief was completely soaked.
“I’m sorry…… I, I wasn’t acting like an adult…….”
As if his emotions had not yet calmed down, his voice remained nasal. Children peeking through the crack in the door made a fuss, shouting, “Director, he’s crying again!”
“Let me see that.”
Robelin dried the handkerchief with flames manifested by Madora. The warmth of the handkerchief, instantly dry and fluffy, was conveyed to Myla.
“Magic like this… When did Lobeline become like this…!”
Myla buried her face in her handkerchief again, as if her heart was overflowing. It was already the third time. At this rate, they wouldn’t be able to have a proper conversation.
Verden smiled inwardly.
You’re consistent.
Myla cries when moved and gets angry when she loses her temper. When she is mentally struggling, she secretly gazes at the night sky and soothes her mind and body with cocoa.Even if she tries to control her expression, she can only fool a child at best… her emotions are clearly visible on her face to the point that most people can tell.
She is an ordinary woman.
That is why Verden and Lobeline were able to grow up in their daily lives. No matter what anyone said, Myla was the temporary guardian of the Bohemian Tower Master and the Transcendent.
Myla clutched her handkerchief tightly.
“I’m sorry again. I’ve become more tearful as I get older.”“I remember you crying a lot even before.”“……Did I really?”“You’re right, Director!”“You’re a crybaby!”
As Myla spun around, the children quickly hid behind the door.She never imagined she would be called a crybaby by the children, and she cleared her throat softly, as if she were too ashamed to be called an adult.
“Um, anyway… Verden. I’ve been hearing your name everywhere. That… it’s you, right?”“It must be.”“Then, is that ‘His Majesty’ real too…?”
Myla’s face turned pale.
“Um… I, I’m sorry. I was so glad to see you and missed you without realizing it, so… I apologize for the intrusion…”“I heard that Lascabel has been going through a lot of hardship due to the Blood-Crying Plague.”
Verden asked.
“How is life in Arrain?”“……!”
Verden had not come to see Myla as the leader of Eon. He was sitting across from her as a former member of the Lascabel Orphanage.The same was true for Lobeline.Understanding Verden’s ulterior motive in asking about her well-being, Myla barely managed to hold back her tears.
“Thanks to you, we are doing so well. Me, the kids, and Grandpa Wallick. Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened without you… I always receive help from you. Even now… and in the past, too.”
“Just a moment,” Myla said, opening the bottom drawer of the wardrobe in one corner of the room.Carefully fumbling around inside the drawer, she took out two bundles of banknotes and a bundle of old papers that she had carefully kept.
4 million elk, and 4 million elk.Letters of the past.
It was an amount and a text that naturally brought the past to mind for Verden and Lobelin.
It’s already been 21 years.
Myla stroked the banknotes and the letter.
“Do you remember? Our Lascabel Orphanage had such a hard time because of the famine. No matter how much we cherished everything, we couldn’t avoid starvation… You guys didn’t show it, but the other kids were crying or making a huge fuss.”
Her gaze dropped.
“And then, two wizards from the Bohemirn Magic Tower visited the village. They said they were looking for young workers. When no one showed up, they even came to the orphanage. They offered money if we handed over a talented child.” “…….”“Honestly, I hesitated. Even if they were just workers, the Magic Tower would be a truly good environment. Much better than the orphanage… Much better. With that money, I could have fed the children.”
Lobelin said.
“But you didn’t do that.”“How could I… How could I possibly… What kind of director in this world would trade a child they are supposed to protect…!”
Myla bit her lip.
“But that night… you all left for the Bohemian Magic Tower. Instead of a single word of farewell, you left 4 million Elk and a letter on each of your beds… And I used that money for the orphanage. But you know what? As I stared at the room you were gone from for a long time, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.”
The letter left by young Verden and Lobelin contained the following:that they hoped it would be of great help to the orphanage.
“How is this any different from me… selling you guys to survive?”
Verden answered immediately.
“Going to the Magic Tower was our choice.”“I would have understood if you two had just gone to the Bohemian Magic Tower. But you cared for the orphanage right up until the moment you left… Verden, that was a sacrifice. You shouldn’t have known what sacrifice was back then. You were just too young.”“You were young, too, Headmistress.”
At the time, Myla was only 19 years old. While others were enjoying their youth day after day, she ran the Lascavelle Orphanage where she was born and raised.
“That’s right… that’s why I was inexperienced.”
Myla slowly raised her gaze.
“Maybe you are living better than anyone else in the Bohemian Tower… because I suppose you could live well anywhere… That is how I rationalized making you sacrifice yourself. Even though I don’t know how you are living… just to put my mind at ease.”
She laughed.
“I was truly happy when I received a letter from you guys a few years later. Since then, I’ve been saving money little by little. I wanted to return it to you when we met later, telling you how grateful I was. But…”
Myla shed a single tear.
“Verden is dead.”
The letter sent by Lobeline was filled with phrases that seemed to express suppressed emotion. It was restraint, extreme anger, and sorrow.Myla could not dare to fathom Lobeline’s feelings. Nor did she have the right to fathom them.
It is a tragedy.
What if the wizard of the Bohemian Tower had firmly refused without a moment’s hesitation? What if he had continued to watch over Verden, who loved magic? What if he had run the orphanage well so the children wouldn’t go hungry? What if he had shown faith in the children so they wouldn’t worry, no matter how difficult the situation was?
At the end of countless irreversible regrets, all that remained was terrible guilt.
“I’m glad you’re alive. But… it’s not like nothing happened… right?”“Director.”“If only I… had done well, if only I had taken good care of you all.”
Myla squeezed her eyes shut.
“I should have given you hope so you could grow up well even without something like a magic tower…… I’m sorry for only showing you my struggles…… I’m sorry, Verden…… I’m sorry, Lobeline…….”
Hot, pearl-like tears streamed down Myla’s cheeks. No matter how hard she tried to wipe them away, the guilt would not stop.
Verden placed his hand on the back of her hand.
“If it weren’t for you, Director, Lobeline and I wouldn’t have been protected by anyone. That thought hasn’t changed, neither in the past nor now.”“But…”“Or do we look so pathetic that it makes you feel guilty?”“No!”
Myla grabbed Verden’s hand.
“You’ve grown up so well…! You’ve grown up so incredibly well…! Verden, Lobelin. Both of you… for growing up so well, for growing up this well, thank you so much…!!”
Myla started crying uncontrollably again, to the point where she could not pronounce words properly. Verden and Lobelin instead comforted her.
When I was young, I was always protected within her fence…
I don’t know who the bigger one is anymore.
* * *
Myla talked a little longer, then fell asleep exhausted from crying. For reference, dinner for the children was taken out.Verden and Lobeline moved Myla to bed and went outside.
The sun has already set.
The moonlight and starlight filling the winter night sky shone on the two people.
“See? I told you you’d cry your eyes out.”“I see.”“I haven’t had the energy lately, but… I should have made time to come a little earlier.”
Most orphans who become adults want to hide the fact that they came from an orphanage. This is because they face disapproving social scrutiny.For this reason, it was rare for them to return to the orphanage after leaving.
However, Verden and Lobeline were not ashamed of the fact that they were from an orphanage.On the contrary, they regarded those days as a blessing… Apart from the story of the Magic Tower, Myla could not suppress the overwhelming emotions welling up inside her.
Lobeline looked up at the temporary orphanage.
“……Should I call it the Arrein Orphanage from now on instead of the Lascabel Orphanage? I don’t think we really need to call it an orphanage.”“Whatever you call it, the essence is the same. If you want to change the name, it’s up to you, Director.”“Well, I suppose so. But you always speak respectfully to me?”“Because you are someone worthy of it.”
Verden answered calmly and glanced back. Suddenly, the door opened cautiously, and a girl poked her head out.
“Um… are you and your brother from our Lascabel Orphanage too?”“Yes.”“Then can I call you Unnie and Oppa from now on?”
The child was already calling it that, but the two of them didn’t bother to point it out.
“Okay.””Wow! I got an older sister and a brother!”
The girl immediately ran inside the house and shared the news with the other children. A commotion could be heard from the second floor.
Verden and Lobeline exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders.
“Shall we go back?”“Go ahead. I’ll follow right away.”
Verden was aware of someone’s presence near the orphanage. Lobeline had already sensed that person’s presence as well.
Flight
Lobelin flew up toward Arrain Fortress.
Verden walked leisurely straight toward the alley near the temporary orphanage. The quiet chirping of insects brushed past his ears.
“The weather isn’t that warm. Are you planning to just keep waiting?”
Thump, thump, thump.
Wallick staggered and slowly emerged from the shadows. The gazes of the old, sick sorcerer and the young transcendent being met.
“Talent… is given by heaven. No matter how much one laments, that is an unchangeable fact. Everyone lives in such a predetermined world. Because that is the truth.”“…….”“But, how on earth did you do it… how.”
Wallick approached and grabbed Verden by the collar with his wrinkled hand.The cane rolled on the floor.
“Surely your magical talent was limited to the first tier, so how did you… now… why, how did you change something that absolutely cannot be changed, Verden…!”
Wallick’s expression was distorted, unlike that of the kind old neighbor who used to show magic to the village children.
As if unable to accept.
Wallick did not come to visit Verden as the neighbor from back then. He came as a wizard to unravel the unknown.
“The hierarchy of limits. Just as I expected. Is that why you didn’t teach me magic? After all, even if you taught me, I wouldn’t be able to become a great wizard, let alone an ordinary one.”
Verden asked.
“It’s pathetic to call that consideration.”“What…?”“I am the one making the choice. Not Heaven.”
Wallick gazed into Verden’s blue eyes and involuntarily loosened his grip. Wallick was overwhelmed by a being who was nothing more than a mere child.
“Walrick, the war mage of Northern Delharun. I do not know what kind of life you have lived. Nor am I particularly curious. However, aren’t you ashamed of that ideology that you must live according to what Heaven has ordained?”
Wallick opened his eyes wide.
“No matter how, no matter how hard I struggle, if the heavens do not will it, I can do nothing…! I cannot save a single person on the battlefield, nor can I persuade a single person…! And talent, either!”“Then explain my existence.”
Wallick was speechless for a moment.He had nothing to say.And understandably so, since he himself had come to find Verden to find that out. Wallick recalled the moment he first saw Verden.
A pure child whose eyes sparkle as they watch magic.
“Verden… I don’t know what you’ve done, but you mustn’t. You mustn’t. If you defy the will of Heaven, divine punishment will eventually fall…”“If I were afraid of that, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
Verden raised his right hand to his chest.
However, aside from detesting fatalistic views, I am grateful to you.
Poof.
A small flame rose from the fingertips.
“If it weren’t for this flame you showed me that day, I wouldn’t have been able to dream of magic. I wanted to tell you this if we ever met again. In that sense, let me ask you just one thing.”
Verden whispered softly.
“Do you still think the same way?”
A talent whose end could not be known even when looking up at it delved into Wallick’s magic.
With those last words, Verden cast
……dump.
Wallick stepped back, hit the wall, and slid down.He looked at his hands.
To reject the will of Heaven. To think that is possible.
Wallick looked back on his past, in which he had used the sky as an excuse to run away. He also recalled the memory of using magic to assess an opponent’s magical talent and predict their future.
“I… was wrong.”
Wallick sat there blankly for a while, then picked up his cane and returned home. Ah, was it because doubts about himself had begun to arise?
The magic path was not opened as well as before.
* * *
Akhenad Magic Kingdom.
Whoosh──! Whoooosh──!
Vangelis Ruin Akenard wielded his staff alone in the deserted training grounds, wielding the Ancestor’s
Vangelis gathered his magical powers and gazed at the night sky.
Will he come in just a few days?
The Seven Great Demon Kings await the visit of Verden, the pinnacle of Eon.For the sake of the dying bloodline.
