Chapter 220: End of Summer (1)
[Episode.10]
[The Truth of Morph]
[Since the story transpired in a perfect way, Constellation Project promises additional rewards.]
... One main episode, that he didn’t even know started, was completed.
The system message from the Constellation Project felt distant amidst his dazed consciousness.
The Truth of Morph.
When was that episode about again?
He could hardly remember.
“Phew...”
[The skill 'Breath of the Spirit' is deactivated and Spirit Corruption increases significantly..]
[Overuse of the item 'Wheel of Dawn' has caused a strain on your body.]
Baek Yu-Seol had heard the phrase, ‘All the muscles in your body scream.’ He didn't understand it before, but now he got it.
This wasn’t just screaming but rather begging to be saved.
He hastily drank potions of all kinds, but the pain did not subside.
‘I might really die...’
He leaned back, slowly taking a breath. He had hidden far away in the dense branches of a tall tree, far from the battlefield, so he judged that his appearance wouldn't be visible and even took off his mask.
Dudu!!
The sound of horse hooves echoed loudly from afar. The magic warrior squad was arriving one after another, unaware that the incident had already ended.
The sight of the magic warriors caught his eyes. They arrived and surveyed the situation with dismayed expressions. Their gazes drifted around the fallen White Demon Fox Fire Spirit and Isaac Morph.
How should they digest the situation?
It was hard to believe that a Danger Level 9 dark mage had appeared, let alone that Grand Duke Isaac Morph, the guardian of the continent, had betrayed the magical world to become a dark mage.
However, soon enough.
The mages began to shout in unison.
"Grand Duke Isaac Morph has turned into a dark mage!”Ne/w novel chapters are p/u/blished on no/vel(/bin(.)c/o/m
“But Princess Hong Si-hwa has successfully repelled him!”
“Oh! Look at her! What a heroic achievement!"
“I can't believe it. Grand Duke Isaac Morph betrayed the magical world...?”
The mages surrounding Hong Si-hwa praised her achievements.
In reality, they all knew.
They could infer why Isaac Morph turned into a dark mage just by looking at the circumstances.
The White Demon Fox Fire Spirit was unsealed.
To defeat it... He chose a noble sacrifice himself.
But why would the truth matter?
The living must survive.
Therefore, with the head of the Morph family, one of the two great houses, dead, it was wise to side with Adolveit.
That last sight made Baek Yu-Seol close his eyes.
Hong Si-hwa Adolveit would acknowledge the praises of the mages while concealing the existence of the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit.
Because revealing it would only increase those who speculate about the truth.
The achievement of defeating the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit was also great, but she chose to forgo it to cleanly eliminate any rumors. She was a wise and ruthless woman.
Baek Yu-Seol’s whole body creaked as if it were a machine forced to operate with mismatched parts. He would probably need to recuperate here for a while...
More importantly, there was one problem.
'... Now, how do I go back?'
The day he returned to the past, ten years ago.
New Moon Silver engraved the path back to the original timeline in his mind.
Actually, there was nothing for him to do... Just wait.
'When the time comes, I will open the path for you to return. Until then, do not interfere with the past timeline and wait quietly!'
In the end, he made an enormous interference in the past timeline... but if his prediction was correct, the future would not have changed at all.
... Probably, that’s the case.
'Did something go wrong?'
It was about time for New Moon Silver to send down the rope of salvation, but there was no news.
Time had passed considerably. With no signs, anxiety began to creep up.
If something went wrong due to his actions and the connection with the modern New Moon Silver was severed?
Things she hadn't noticed before began to come into view.
Beautiful, ugly, exciting, sad, joyful.
These are the emotions felt by the ordinary people.
Now that she could finally feel all these emotions... Why did she only feel powerlessness and despair?
'... No matter what I do, nothing will change.'
Jeliel shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned to go back into the office.
But something... Something felt off.
'Huh?'
The wind that had been blowing her hair stopped.
'What's going on...?'
The strange shift in her emotions—fear preceding curiosity—felt very odd.
With effort, Jeliel turned her head back to look at the balcony again.
... What’s this?
Raindrops were suspended in mid-air.
... Millions of them.
The downpour that had been drenching Hawol Plain had stopped.
The lightning strike roaring from the sky was now frozen like a painting.
It was as if time had stopped...
To make sure if it was real, Jeliel squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again.
At the edge of the horizon, an old man was hovering there.
With a white lightning bolt splitting the sky behind him, he quietly watched Jeliel.
Splish!
The old man walked toward Jeliel while stepping on the suspended raindrops.
Step by step.
As the distance between them decreased... Ironically, Jeliel felt a certain emotion welling up in her chest. Even before fear.
She could tell.
It was hope.
...
Finally, the old man reached the balcony and looked down at Jeliel.
The mysterious figure, whose beard waved despite the lack of wind, pierced her eyes with his gaze and then spoke abruptly.
"In this area... You are the one most closely connected to Baek Yu-Seol."
"... Is that so?"
At the mention of that name, Jeliel’s heart pounded even more fiercely.
"Do you want to bring him back?"
"Yes."
"If you fail, you might have to offer your heart as the price. Is that still okay?"
It didn't take even a second.
The time it took for Jeliel to nod her head up and down.
"I'm exaggerating."
"... What?"
"You don't need to risk your life. I just wanted to know how earnest you are."
He turned and looked out at the distant horizon. Thinking that it was always a beautiful view, he parted his lips to speak to Jeliel.
"What you need to do is simple. Just earnestly... wish for him. I'm not connected to that boy by fate, so I can't do it myself. That's why I must ask you. Can you do it?"
If that was all, it was no problem at all.
Because... It was something she had been doing all along.
"... I can do it."
As Jeliel firmly nodded, the old man smiled with satisfaction.
... Shhhh!!
Then, as if his presence had been a dream, he scattered into the air and the rain began to fall again.
Staring blankly at the spot where the old man had vanished, Jeliel, as if possessed, gathered her things and dashed out of the office.
Flap...
In the now empty, silent office, only a few sheets of paper fluttered, dancing with the wind and rain.