The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 327

The top-secret operation, conducted with fewer than 100 people, quickly spread throughout the world.

[Black Magic Tower subjugation successful. The price we paid.]

[Sein Vinoche and Sophia Anechepri. The story of two heroes.]

[Mourning for the two heroes continues around the world…]

The main pages of all existing portal sites were filled with articles about this incident.

Most online communities were mourning the deaths of Sein Vinoche-nim and Sophia Anechepri-nim.

[Black Magic Tower destroyed. The achievements of the heroes who died in this operation.]

[Most developing countries, who feared the frequent terrorist acts of the Black Magic Tower, are sincerely cheering.]

[In memory of the five Tower Masters who died while carrying out this operation.]

It wasn’t just Sophia-nim and Sein-nim.

There was also an outpouring of grief for the five Tower Masters who lost their lives in this operation.

[Thank you. And we love you.]

[Sophia Anechepri-nim. I was happy because of you.]

[Rest well there.]

Everyone cried sincerely.

Mages, swordsmen, and ordinary people.

Today, everyone was united in shedding tears.

[Sein Vinoche, her will was found in her arms.]

…No.

Is it a lie that everyone feels the same?

[She was thinking about the future of the swordsmen until the very end.]

There is a magnitude to grief.

And if we were to compare that magnitude, the swordsmen’s grief would surely be greater.

[Sein Vinoche. According to her will, her will is being made public in a place where everyone can see it.]

If the grief of others is like a river, the grief of the swordsmen is like an ocean.

[My children.]

A messy letter, as if written in blood.

Perhaps because there was no paper, she left a letter written in blood on the clothes she was wearing.

[Rejoice. You can become stronger.]

It seems she wrote it while her mind was fading. The letters are crooked, and there are noticeable gaps between them.

[I am the proof.]

But that didn’t matter when accepting her last message.

Her last message.

Her pride. It was being clearly conveyed to everyone.

[I, Sein Vinoche. The swordsman, Sein, beheaded the Black Magic King. I personally killed the evil foe that was so strong that Sophia Anechepri gave up.]

The letters are becoming increasingly blurry.

The ends of the letters are getting longer and longer.

As if she didn’t even have the strength to move her hand.

The letters are becoming increasingly difficult to read.

[So, hold your heads high and look at the sky.]

That’s why it resonates even more.

[Your future is me. Hold your heads up and move forward.]

Her sincerity is conveyed without any exaggeration.

[Polish yourselves. My pride.]

My pride.

There wouldn’t be a single swordsman who didn’t shed tears at those words.

[In my study, in the first drawer. I have recorded everything I have realized. So that everyone can see it. So that everyone can regain their honor. I have written it all down without missing a single thing.]

Sein Vinoche was Sein Vinoche until the very end.

There was not a single tremor in her pride.

[I wish.]

The letters are slowly fading, like dried blood.

It must have become difficult to even put strength into her fingers.

[For a world to come where mages and swordsmen join forces, like me and Sophia Anechepri.]

Why is that?

Beyond the dying letters, Sein Vinoche’s smiling face came to mind.

[It would surely be a very enjoyable world.]

Her heart, her emotions, are conveyed as they are.

[……]

However, those emotions were abruptly cut off at the end of that sentence.

A long, drawn-out streak of blood.

As if she had lost her strength while holding the pen to the note, and the letters had blurred.

Such a trace.

[Oh, I almost fell asleep.]

Her death was imminent.

[I almost failed to convey the most important words. That won’t do.]

Even in the face of death, she was smiling.

[Lastly, not as Vinoche, but as Sein, I say these words.]

As if worried about someone.

[I love you. My daughter.]

To not worry someone.

[Sincerely.]

Sein Vinoche was desperately smiling.

[I was happy that you were my daughter.]

With those words.

Sein Vinoche’s will ended.

Blood pooled like a puddle below the period.

With that period as the end, with her finger on that spot.

She must have fallen asleep like that.

With her finger on that spot, she never moved again.

“…Ah.”

Stella held Sein-nim’s will to her chest.

Holding her final message, which contained everything about her, she lowered her head.

“Mom…”

I love you.

I was happy.

She gently stroked those words.

Mother.

She called that beautiful name.

“Mom…”

Drop, drop.

Tears falling one by one.

Her tears fell on the will left by Sein Vinoche.

The will was slowly spreading.

Soaked in tears, the blood was fading.

“I don’t want to…”

Even amidst that, the phrase ‘I love you’ was not erased.

Even while dying.

As if she had pressed down with all her strength.

With the determination to convey that one phrase.

Four syllables that were written so that they would never be erased.

“Ahhh…!”

Hugging the sincerity contained in that sentence with her whole body.

Stella Vinoche wept.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!!”

As desperately as could be.

She wailed.

“…”

I watched Stella like that and slowly got up from my seat.

Comfort is meaningless to Stella right now.

What Stella needs now is time.

Time to sort out her feelings on her own.

I slowly left the room, closed the door, leaned my back against the closed door, and looked up at the sky.

“Young Master.”

Even at Seokhyun Ahjussi’s call, I couldn’t lower my head.

“Are you alright?”

If I lowered my head like this, it felt like something would spill out.

“Yes…”

Swaaaaaaah-!

Like the rain pouring down outside.

It was clear that something would spill out.

I couldn’t lower my head.

“Until the very end… She was an amazing person.”

“Yes.”

It’s a relief.

That it’s raining right now.

“Really. She was such an amazing person that it’s a waste that she sacrificed herself to protect someone like me…”

“Young Master…”

Because the rain was drowning out other sounds.

“Really… Really…”

If it hadn’t been raining,

If Stella’s crying from behind the door had been heard as it was.

Then I wouldn’t have been able to hold back either.

“It doesn’t look like the rain is going to stop.”

“…Yes.”

Seokhyun Ahjussi slowly turned his head.

He said, looking at the thick raindrops pouring down outside the window.

“It seems the sky is also deeply lamenting.”

The rain continued to fall.

Again and again.

It poured down all over the world.

As if the sky was truly sad.

It rained non-stop for a whole week.

* * *

Time passed quickly.

Ten days, fifteen days, a month.

Around the time when the panacea called time began to cure the incurable disease called grief.

Around the time when time made people forget even mourning the two heroes.

I was facing Stella at the Vinoche estate in France.

“Thank you.”

Stella, who had come out of her room after a month and two weeks, was in an indescribably haggard state.

“For giving my mother… my mother’s life.”

However, contrary to her haggard appearance.

Her eyes were shining brighter than anyone else’s.

“For making my mother’s dream come true.”

Like the sun rising after a long rainy season.

It was as if the rainy season had passed and the sun had risen in her heart as well.

“…I didn’t do anything. It was Sein-nim herself who created this atmosphere.”

Sein-nim’s dream.

A world where swordsmen and mages stand shoulder to shoulder and cooperate.

That dream is becoming a reality every moment.

“If it hadn’t been for Sein-nim’s will… No matter what I had said, this kind of atmosphere wouldn’t have been formed.”

The catalyst was Sein-nim’s will.

The last wish she left behind changed the atmosphere of this world.

It made the swordsmen forget their inferiority complex towards mages.

And the mages erased their contemptuous gaze towards the swordsmen.

The world began to change in a good direction, all thanks to Sein-nim.

I didn’t do anything.

“No. It’s all thanks to you.”

Stella looked straight into my eyes.

“If you hadn’t acted, if you hadn’t awakened the ‘honor’ of the swordsmen… The world wouldn’t have changed so easily.”

As Stella said, the world didn’t start to change just because of Sein-nim’s last will.

Sein-nim’s will was just a catalyst.

The change in the swordsmen played a major role in the world starting to change.

“Thank you. Thanks to you reminding us of what we had lost. We were able to regain our pride.”

What the swordsmen had lost.

What Sein Vinoche had regained first, and what she wanted everyone to regain.

The honor that had disappeared from their swords.

The swordsmen are quickly regaining their past.

As a result, the swordsmen are achieving rapid growth.

They are becoming stronger as quickly as the mages, if not more so.

That’s why the world has started to change rapidly.

Since the swordsmen are no longer beings to be ignored, the mages have withdrawn their contemptuous gazes.

And since the mages are no longer objects of jealousy, the swordsmen no longer look at the mages with sharp eyes.

This is the whole picture of what is happening now.

As Stella said, it is true that my knowledge played an important role.

…But.

“…You’ve become stronger.”

I didn’t know Stella would say such things so openly.

Honestly, I thought she would resent me.

Why didn’t you protect my mother? I thought she would vent her anger…

“That’s not possible.”

Instead of venting her anger at me, she thanked me.

I really didn’t expect that in my wildest dreams.

What on earth happened during the past month and a half?

“I’m not strong yet. I’ve been struggling for a month and a half.”

“There are far more people who can’t shake it off for a month or even half a year. The fact that you’ve overcome it is proof enough that you’re strong.”

“No.”

Stella shook her head firmly.

“I’m not strong. Neither in body nor mind. I’m still young.”

Despite saying that she was lacking, there was not a trace of humility to be found. All that could be felt was confidence and a progressive desire.

“So… I’m going to get stronger from now on.”

Stella smiled.

It was the unwavering smile of someone who had shaken off everything.

“…A person who can smile like that is called strong.”

“No. I’m still far away. The strength I’m thinking of is the same kind of strength as my mother.”

“If the comparison is with the strength of someone like Sein-nim… I can understand a little.”

“Right?”

I smiled slightly too.

Seeing Stella, who had become able to smile like that, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Anyway… I’m glad. That you’ve become able to smile like that.”

“I’ve caused you worry.”

Stella bowed her head as if she was truly sorry.

“I feel like I can tell you everything now.”

“…Everything?”

“Things that haven’t been made public yet, about the ill-fated relationship between the Black Magic Tower and us. And the true meaning contained in Sein-nim’s will… I guess you could say.”

Stella’s eyes widened.

“A hidden meaning in my mother’s will…?”

“Yes.”

Sein-nim’s will seems like a normal last wish for peace between mages and swordsmen.

But Sein-nim’s real purpose is different.

“The reason Sein-nim left a will wishing for harmony between mages and swordsmen is for the future.”

“I know that too. It’s to move forward in a better direction…”

“No. It’s not about such an abstract direction. It means for the real future.”

“…The real future?”

“Yes.”

I paused for a moment and slowly recited that man’s name.

“Veil Stoll. A demon god who will be resurrected in the near future. Sein-nim left that will to prepare for the battle against him.”

Sein-nim was thinking about the world until the very last moment.