The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 257

257

#2 Interlude, Prologue to the Epilogue (2).

My reunion with Setsnen two days later was, well, the worst.

Setsnen’s body had somehow shrunk to resemble that of a toddler.

The little rascal struck a pose, touching his face with his right hand, and said:

“Favoritism towards Mir is evil! If you love justice, you wouldn’t show favoritism… that’s what it is!”

Rain and Miria were speechless. Even Aki tilted her head nearly 90 degrees.

“I can’t believe it!”

“He speaks better than Aki?!”

Wait, why? Why the tears?

Where did the eldest daughter’s authority go? Was Aki really the only strange one?

“A, Aki can do well if she wants to! Aki speaks very well.”

“That statement lacks logical evidence. Requesting evidence for credibility.”

It was Mir who firmly denied Aki’s statement. Setsnen clenched his fist, looked up at the sun, and shouted.

“Justice, that great value! Until all the evil in this world is gone, this Setsnen’s justice will be immortal… that’s what it is!”

“???”

“Aki, stand up straight when Setsnen, the champion of justice, is talking! If you don’t love justice, your posture will be crooked… that’s what it is.”

Sirin, the culprit behind this insane brainwashing, was shedding tears of emotion and giving a standing ovation, so Miria questioned her.

“What did you do? Why is Nen so weird?”

“The Yellow Dragon is a guardian of justice; he learned it on his own without me having to teach him. And look, he’s already grown that much from his toddler state.”

“No, even so, that’s…”

At that moment, Aki’s punishing ‘Aki Flick’ landed squarely on Setsnen’s head.

Setsnen clutched the bump that had risen on his head and whimpered.

Mir watched the scene expressionlessly, then suddenly opened her mouth.

“Hak du aos.”

What was uttered at that moment was the language of dragons, the words of the White Dragon, specialized in healing dragon speech among the three races, instantly healing the bump.

Mir’s power was so great that even Sirin’s eyes widened.

No sooner had he been freed from the pain than Setsnen arrogantly crossed his arms again.

“It is justice for a younger sibling to help an older sibling! But it is evil for an older sister to hit her younger sibling without warning… Ouch, that hurts!! That’s what it is!”

Rain, who had been watching the series of antics, couldn’t help but let out a clear laugh.

“Miria, it might not be so bad after all.”

It’ll be noisy.

So, I won’t be lonely. It’ll be fun. We’ll be able to support each other when things get tough.

Now, and continuously in the immortal journey you all must walk together in the future.

Just like each and every day I spent with my companions guided my second life.

“What do you think of this?”

Valenciaga, the man in the iron mask, who had heard the whole story, shrugged.

“Well, solitude can grow a person’s inner self more than you think, but I wonder if you’ve taken away that opportunity.”

“Ha! I shouldn’t have expected anything good from you. I don’t know what I was expecting.”

“The wise listen to good advice, and the ignorant only listen to flattery. You need to train yourself to cut out the sycophants in your life, Rain Ludwig.”

‘This guy is still the same,’ I thought, and I laughed.

“I, I’m, uh, doing, that, training, too.”

Obin, even though he became king, his timid personality of hiding behind this guy’s coattails hasn’t gone anywhere.

“You know what, Obin? Setsnen speaks better than you now.”

“…?”

“And one more thing, I don’t think you need to wear a crown or an eye patch anymore.”

The new power I gained upon reaching 7-star status is light.

The power of creation to restore all things with distorted weaves by the abyss to their original form.

All kinds of diseases, famine, disabilities, and curses belong to the abyss, and even the congenital disability that Obin was born with can be cured.

“So, how is it?”

Obin, who had taken off his crown, opened his mouth a few times, then looked up with disbelief.

“Huh…?”

Valenciaga looked even more bewildered than the person involved.

That’s because he was well-versed in both magic and sorcery.

He understood the mystery of the miracle happening before his eyes better than Obin did.

“You’re next, get ready.”

“Me, surely… no, never mind.”

“Why are you backing out now? It’s not that hard.”

However, Valenciaga just shook his head.

“This pain reminds me of my sins. It’s a cross I have to bear for the rest of my life. It’s absurd to get rid of it. I will never forgive myself.”

“So you’re going to suffer alone for the rest of your life? Doing good deeds with a mask on.”

“……”

“Forget it, man. How much good can you do looking so scary? Everyone will just be scared and run away.”

Rain thought. I can’t become a great man like Friede.

I can’t say something cool like, ‘Please forgive yourself now,’ no matter how hard I try.

My conversations are always practical, just carefully conveying my true feelings behind a mask of practicality.

“Help as many people as possible. And expand the influence of the Solond Kingdom in the Adrion continent.”

“……?”

“I’m planning to get a big position in the Empire soon, you know? I’ll need your help then.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“You know what you’ve been saying all your life?”

“You don’t mean…”

Valenciaga is not a guy who seeks wealth and glory.

For this guy, success is just a tool for the ‘redistribution of magic’ that he has dreamed of since he was a child.

There is a better way for this guy to atone than to suffer in pain until the day he dies.

“Let’s create a better world together, Valenciaga. So stop wearing that gloomy mask. And stop living with one arm.”

“……!”

“Let’s visit the graves together after everything is over. You said you built all the graves of the victims. And let’s pour a drink there.”

In place of my inept disciple.

I will also gladly pour wine and offer prayers at their tombstones.

So that they may finally rest in peace.

* * *

“Wow, it’s Aki!”

After passing through the Tersh Islands and returning to the Akrad continent, the group arrived in the Seges region and received a warm welcome.

“But what is it?”

“Has she grown this much…?”

“Aki is big! And strong!”

Thanks to winning the Cheonhwa Jeil Martial Arts Competition [a prestigious martial arts tournament], so many people recognize Aki after returning to the Northern Republic that it’s almost unbearable.

“I wondered why the child was so pretty, she looks exactly like her mother!”

If it were Rista, she would have joined in the chatter of those women with a sly smile, but Miria just stammered and rolled her eyes around.

“Anyway, it’s really out.”

At that time, Rain looked at the wine bottle that the witch Florena of Marind Village had given him, with a look of dismay.

“Of course it’s really out, would it be fake? Aki even won the championship, so it sold like crazy. So I’m planning to sell it again this year. To make my old age rich, hehe.”

“To call such a materialistic person a witch…”

“I was the one who was surprised. That Aki is a dragon. A Red Dragon in this day and age!”

Aki’s soul level has already become so strong that it can’t be hidden by the tool Juliana gave her.

So the witches they encountered recognized Aki’s true identity….

I wondered if I would be accused of fraud, but rather, the fact that Aki was a dragon seemed to have drawn even more enthusiastic support than before.

“Picture familiar, strange.”

Mir, who peeked out from his back and looked at the label of the wine, tilted his head expressionlessly.

“Aki is drawn here.”

“Low credibility, cannot be believed.”

“It’s real. It’s proof that Aki won as the Grape Girl. My sister was very cute when she was young.”

Yeah….

Could I ever forget the memories of that day?

And that day, I thought I would never be able to return here with Aki again.

“She was so cute back then…”

It was as if the warmth of that day had permeated this picture, and Rain stared at the label for a while, speechless.

The day I feel the warmth I felt that day will not come again.

But I can remember that warmth. At least like this.

“I’m exhausted from dealing with people. Why don’t you help me at all? You could have come and said something.”

When Miria came to his side, escaping from the crowd, the flower field lay quietly with the sound of the wind.

In the river hidden in the flower field, the twilight was breaking into countless pieces.

The fleeting autumn sunshine and cool air combined with this background, and a dreamy atmosphere settled over the entire flower field.

In that quiet and pleasant silence, Mir quickly fell asleep.

Only the sound of Aki and Setsnen running and laughing in the flower field in the distance echoes through the flower field, mixed with the river breeze.

“It’s nice.”

“Huh?”

“Being able to return to a place full of memories with someone.”

Miria blinked in surprise, then coughed shyly and sat demurely next to Rain.

“Can I tell you a story?”

The distance was the distance of a fist, was that the psychological distance between them?

No.

Before, that is, 300 years ago, when they found this flower field, they sat like this then too.

“Actually, many of Rista’s memories still feel like dreams.”

“I guess so. It will be.”

“But you know, there is one thing, really just one thing, but one memory that is as clear as my own.”

Rain couldn’t see her expression because of her white hair fluttering like dancing.

However, it was clear to everyone that she was clenching her fists on her lap and trembling.

Only she herself knew that her cheeks were faintly flushed and that she was breathing softly in this place.

“You know the Light Dragon, Haraderiman, right?”

“If you don’t know, you’re a spy for the Black Church, right? No, even they would know.”

“Whenever I persuaded Uncle Yoshhar to allow an audience, I would always go to Haraderiman and pray.”

“Pray?”

“Pray. If you have pity on me, I don’t have to have a happy family, I don’t have to have such outstanding abilities as I do now, I don’t have to have memories, even if this body dies, please let me be reborn.”

Rista, who was hugging her knees and looking up at the sunset, only smiled at Rain because of her hair flying in the wind.

“Do you know how I prayed in the end?”

I couldn’t find a way to answer that playful question other than silence and breathing.

Let’s be honest.

Rain has kept his distance from Miria so far. I’ve been avoiding taking Miria seriously. Because it felt like something, something like a hope in my heart, would be shattered.

I have maintained that attitude, and if I still felt the same way now, I would have gently pushed away that question.

But now….

I couldn’t find a way to answer because my heart was beating faster and faster.

“Like a coincidence, meet the same person.”

At that moment, Miria turned her face and looked straight at Rain….

For a moment, Rain forgot to even breathe with his head.

A smile that mixed Rista’s unique bright and playful smile with Miria’s serious and shy smile.

With such a beautiful expression, she looks straight into Rain’s eyes with sincerity that does not waver even an inch.

“Like fate, please let me like the same person.”

It was as if the second hand of the world had started moving again at the moment that word ended.

In the last twilight, the twilight flowers opened their buds one by one, emitting fragrance and light.

The petals swaying in the breeze, the hair of the two people, and the breaths of each other gently intersect.

“Rain, will you go on a journey of life with me?”

300 years ago.

Somewhere different from the short promise we made before being trapped in eternal ice, a proposal with a completely different weight.

A promise that could never be fulfilled.

A promise that could never be fulfilled.

As if skipping such providence, as if reaching out from beyond time, Rista’s voice overlaps Miria’s hands and face.

And the answer to that question.

That day, the moment I first met you in the Magic Tower, the moment I heard the word world, it may have already been decided.

Like fate.