The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 149

149

“I came expecting a great figure as the protector of the dragon, but all you can do is laugh like everyone else.”

Lista… no, Goblin Slayer, with arms crossed as if dumbfounded, glared at me with a sharp look.

I couldn’t say anything.

I momentarily opened Bel Sedios [a magical artifact or skill], thinking it was an illusion, and examined its insides, but there was no trace of any supernatural power. In other words, it’s real.

“What, you want to try me?”

Perhaps because I opened Bel Sedios and stared intently, Goblin Slayer frowned, grabbing the hilt of his dagger with an unpleasant expression.

“You, you… how are you alive?”

That’s what I blurted out.

There’s no way he could recognize me now as Rain, not Rin. My mind went blank, and I lost my composure.

“I wondered how he could be so strong just catching goblins…”

Lista, it’s Lista.

I barely managed to make a sound, but he just glared at me with blatant wariness.

“How am I alive? What nonsense are you talking about? I never died.”

Dumbfounded, I doubted my ears, and Pipi, tilting her head repeatedly, circled around his face and chirped.

“Genuine? Genuine? Genuine? Genuine?”

“Genuine? What’s with this parrot?”

Then Pipi landed on my shoulder and opened her beady eyes primly.

“Fake, fake, fake, fake.”

“Just like her master, she has no manners. My name isn’t Fake, it’s Miria. Mi-ri-a.”

I felt a sudden sense of caution and took a half step back.

The name Miria could be a pseudonym, so I could have overlooked it, but not recognizing Pipi was a serious problem.

Is she a counterfeit like Reveni and Rivadin, created by a black magician through human transmutation?

‘But that doesn’t make sense either.’

If that were the case, they could have finished me off when they caught me from behind at the branch, so why would they bring me here?

‘But it makes even less sense that she’s real.’

Yoshuaar said Lista was dead, and his intact corpse was stored in the Holy See’s ossuary. Dragons don’t lie.

‘No, on closer inspection…’

Even though they seem minor, there were enormous differences.

Because of the moonlight, her hair looked white, but on closer inspection, it was blonde. The color of her eyes wasn’t gold, but green with a jade hue.

When Feyquarter infuses a dragon’s soul to modify a human body, the hair turns stark white, and the eyes change to the dragon’s golden eyes.

In addition, Lista’s skin was as white and transparent as milk, befitting an imperial aristocrat, but this girl had the dark, tanned skin characteristic of the Northern Republic. So, I muttered to myself.

‘It doesn’t seem like Lista…?’

At that moment, the Great True Dragon’s eyes gleamed.

“Krrr…”

He seemed to be staring intently at Goblin Slayer, but then he shook his head as if saying, “Oops, wrong person,” and then, Da-bu! Suddenly, he widened his eyes. Honestly, I don’t know what this guy was trying to do.

The Goblin Slayer, who identified herself as Miria, sighed lowly as if she was dumbfounded and scanned us up and down.

“Staring blankly as a group and spouting nonsense, do you even know that’s rude? And I’m the one who’s dumbfounded here, do you guys know me?”

Of course, I know you better than anyone.

In the middle of my frantically throbbing heart, the echo of my soul reverberated dizzily.

Miria, who couldn’t possibly know such feelings, pressed her temple.

“You’re totally spaced out. That’s how men are. This always happens when they see my face.”

“……”

“If I’m being sincere, you should give up. I don’t like pretty boys, but above all… I hate guys who like to mess with people like you.”

Miria’s voice, narrowing her sharp eyes, was as clear as a mountain stream. Just like Lista’s.

“This… can’t you recognize it?”

As a last resort, I took out a jewel from Seresia’s pouch.

The Flame Jade Ring, with a dazzling light flickering like flames on its surface. A relic of the Fire Dragon’s Maiden, Friede.

While she watched the ring intently, I stole glances at her expression, but there was no change at all. Rather, it became even colder.

“It looks expensive. Were you thinking of gaining favor by showing off your money? That might work in the Empire, but give it up.”

Just then, when the sound of a crow cawing was heard in the distance, Miria shuddered and put her helmet back on.

“Because you’re doing useless things, the crows have caught the scent. Don’t you even know you’re being chased right now?”

That’s all it was.

She just put on her helmet.

The light that illuminated the depths of my heart vanished in an instant, and a cold darkness enveloped my entire body, sending chills down my spine.

“Follow me. If we delay any longer, black witches riding brooms will appear.”

Miria turned around without hesitation and walked into the cave that the goblins had dug.

Overlapping with that back is a fragment of memory… Lista’s face, carrying the Extreme Star Sword Shirpang on her back, always walking ahead and glancing back at me with a bright smile.

A treasure I cherished deep within my soul, that smile that felt like it would break my heart every time I remembered it….

– The severed chain of fate shall be rejoined.

The Water Dragon Yeriserika clearly said that.

That’s why I naturally assumed it was Lista, but if it’s not Lista, then what on earth is going on?

Then who the heck is this girl?

* * *

“Oh, Hero.”

The Hero, Lista Alter Shirpang, was able to find the Osarius School’s Magic Tower seven years after Rin’s treasure arrived at the tower.

If you ask why he came only after seven years, it was because he couldn’t bring himself to face them….

However, now that his lifespan was coming to an end, he mustered the courage to visit the Osarius School to fulfill his last duty.

The Osarius School had developed so prosperously that it was incomparable to when he had visited before.

The number of disciples seemed to be well over two hundred, and the school’s robes were standardized thanks to the stream of support coming from all over the Empire.

It was the same black monastic robe with a blue cassock [a close-fitting, ankle-length garment worn by clergy or members of a choir] that Rin had worn throughout her journey. Lista gave a bitter smile.

“Rin really liked it.”

“Did she?”

“Yes, the Headmaster bought it for her. Her clothes were often torn during battles, but instead of buying new ones, she insisted on repairing and wearing them.”

“Oh my.”

“It was Rin’s most cherished treasure. Along with her bamboo hat.”

A mixture of sadness and joy formed on the wrinkled mouth of Headmaster Atlante.

“If I had known, I would have bought her something much better to wear….”

The two exchanged sad smiles and walked along the school’s corridor.

The disciples recognized the hero and bowed deeply. Looking at them, he felt something was missing.

What was it? Her attire was exactly the same as Rin’s, but… Ah.

“There’s no staff.”

“A staff?”

“Yoshuaar gave Rin a staff. I later taught her staff techniques so she could wield it… Ah, if it’s okay with you, should I compile those staff techniques into a book and give it to you?”

Atlante simply smiled quietly and waved her hand.

“I couldn’t possibly ask such a favor of someone so precious.”

“No, I! I really want to do it!”

“If it’s a simple act of kindness, I would gratefully accept it, but… if it’s an action stemming from guilt, I won’t accept it. Rin wouldn’t want that either.”

At that moment, Lista felt a heart-wrenching pain in his chest, below his heart, and helplessly clutched at his clothes, wrinkling them.

“Headmaster… I’m so sorry for not being able to bring Rin back….”

“……”

“I shouldn’t have taken her… No matter how capable she was, she was still such a young child….”

“I was the one who asked you to take her.”

“In the end, I was the one who took her. Rin must be resenting me too….”

He could feel sadness welling up in his unbearably hot eyes.

Atlante didn’t hug Lista or comfort him by saying that she was more at fault, but instead silently led him to the Headmaster’s office.

Then, she took out a wooden box that she had been keeping in a drawer with the utmost care. When she opened the lid, countless pieces of paper rustled.

“These are letters that Rin sent from time to time. Would you like to take a look?”

Rin…?

Come to think of it, Rin always wrote letters at night whenever she had the opportunity to do so.

[Headmaster, I’ve arrived in the southern part of the Empire. It’s incredibly hot, just like you said. The bamboo hat you gave me is helping. Just a little bit.]

[Headmaster, I’ve now crossed the Republic’s border. Perhaps because the Republic doesn’t have a class system, the people seem more energetic than in the Empire.]

[Headmaster, today I’m taking a ship from the Akrad Continent to the Adrion Continent. I think I’ll be fighting more often now. I’ll do my best.]

That’s so like Rin….

The sentences revealed Rin’s personality so clearly that I couldn’t help but smile. I would have known it was Rin’s letter even without the explanation.

“As you can see, at first, the letters were short and felt like she was writing them reluctantly, but they became more mature as the years passed.”

Indeed, the length of the letters became longer as she entered her second year.

From the third year, she began to fill the entire stationery, and from the fourth year, something… it felt like someone else had written them.

[Headmaster, Lista got angry for me today.

To be honest, I still don’t understand it. Crying or getting angry for someone else. But for some reason, I thought it was cool.

Headmaster, I want to become a cool adult like Lista someday. Do you think I can?]

So that’s what she was thinking at that time… A corner of my heart warmed up. There were also a few funny letters.

[Headmaster, I picked up a useless thing.

I gave her a name and taught her some magic, just like you did for me, and now she follows me around calling me master.

Looking at this girl, I realized how much I didn’t bother you, and I think you should be grateful to me.

Just kidding.]

I had barely managed to suppress the rising tears, but the moment I saw the last letter, my vision became so blurry that I couldn’t see the words.

[Headmaster, it’s already been five years. The expedition is coming to an end now.

I don’t think I’ll be able to tell you honestly if I go to the Magic Tower and see you in person, so I’ll write it in this letter now.

Headmaster, thank you. For allowing me to leave with Lista. Thanks to Lista, I saw a lot, heard a lot, and felt a lot.

When I return to the Magic Tower, I’m thinking of being nicer to my ignorant but not unpleasant fellow students.

I’ve only grown by a hand span. My face hasn’t changed much either. I don’t like it, but you’ll definitely recognize me.

Have my fellow students been causing trouble, so there are many wrinkles on your face? I’m a little worried that you’ll be a grandmother and I won’t recognize you.]

Tears flowed endlessly, running down his cheeks and merging at his chin, then falling endlessly to the floor.

“Neither Rin nor I have ever resented the Hero. That child found true happiness by following the Hero.”

Atlante gently placed her hand on Lista’s shoulder.

“I can tell. She was a child I raised like my own son… An child who couldn’t express her emotions honestly came to write such long letters and send them.”

“But, but Headmaster, if I, if I had done better─”

“─Thank you so much, Hero. For taking Rin with you that day.”

For teaching Rin about the world.

For allowing Rin to grow into such a wonderful adult… Dewdrops fell at Atlante’s feet, who was bowing deeply, leaving stains.