Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 163

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 163.
The Call of the Sealed Land (9)
Zero then offered a partial interpretation of the inscriptions carved into the tombstones.
“All flowers buried beneath the earth… the mirror of winter’s shadow… to depart first and return to the ancient ancestors… is only to apologize….”
Pausing, Zero turned his body toward me.
“Long ago, I read all the inscriptions on these stones. They rejoiced at the thought of dwelling with great ancestors after death, yet they worried for those left behind. Do you suppose they truly live in happiness alongside the souls of Ganapoli?”
I gazed down at the tombstones, both large and small, seized by an indescribable feeling. The ghosts—Endymion among them—came to mind.
I still did not know their true nature. Could their graves be among these?
“Are the names of the dead written on the tombstones?”
“Some are difficult to make out, but most are inscribed. This one here reads… Labdos. It means ‘staff.'”
“You said you read them all before, didn’t you? Is there… perhaps no name written as Endymion?”
“Endymion?”
He seemed not to recall clearly. We wandered together among the graves, but among the legible tombstones, none bore the name Endymion.
After examining the final stone, Zero asked:
“But why are you searching for such a name?”
I shook my head. It was too complicated a matter to explain in mere words. Moreover, I was uncertain whether he would believe me.
“Rather… why did you bring me to this place?”
“Well, what do you feel seeing this place?”
I paused to consider before answering.
“It feels like viewing someone’s hidden old diary from long ago.”
Zero gazed at the ground and let out a laugh. Whether by mood or not, it sounded hollow and weary.
“You’re right. That’s what I wanted to show you. The dead Ganapoli, turned to stone—a corpse, if you will. Not people, but civilization lies buried here. All of this is now fragments of beauty and greatness that have slipped from our grasp.”
Zero caressed the head of one tombstone, running his fingers along its broken edges.
“I came here once with Ilios. We were together from childhood, still friends then… He read the inscriptions before I did. We would have youthful conversations about the Island’s future. But now the friend is gone, and all that remains is this old graveyard… Daphnen, you may not believe me, but ghosts sometimes wander this place.”
I felt my chest sink as I asked in return:
“Ghosts?”
“If you’d rather not believe, you can think of it as merely my dream. But I… as you know, I spend my days guarding the Library. When night falls, I sometimes come here, wandering like a madman, trying to catch even a hint of the fragrance of dead civilization.”
Zero’s fingers traced the inscriptions carved into the stone.
“Some nights I’ve clung to these stones through the darkness, pouring out words I longed to speak, or held a broken fragment for hours, lost in thought. Why was I born too late, trapped in this withered land where civilization has faded? I envied the already dead while simultaneously resenting them, wondering if their spirits truly dwell alongside the great souls of the Magic Kingdom, and if so, thinking I would end my own life to join them, my mind fevered as I greeted the dawn…”
No one in this world was merely their appearance. Zero, who had seemed detached from all things and only gentle, was also a person whose heart was seized by elusive hope, wandering in despair, harboring a mad passion for which he would sacrifice everything.
Were others any different?
Ilios, whom I had believed to be a perfect genius, was a person of twisted character who ultimately pierced himself with the blade his own pride had forged.
Despoina, who seemed to embrace everyone warmly, had once possessed a selfishness that turned a blind eye to others’ sacrifice for the sake of her beloved sibling’s future.
And though Daphnen did not yet know it, even Nauplion, who wished to be an eccentric bound by nothing, was in truth a person who could not sever even a single fragment of his past.
“After spending dozens of nights in such a manner, I could not stop coming here. Then one summer night, as I read the inscriptions, I fell asleep before that tomb there—the largest one…”
Before the great tomb stood a long pentagonal tombstone with a broken corner.
The image of Zero, illuminating the hundreds of tiny characters carved there one by one with his lamp, flickered past like a phantom beneath the daylight sun.
“When I half-woke, I knew without opening my eyes that there was a presence around me. Dozens of them. Now my body has grown slow from reading books alone, but in my youth I learned staff combat like the other children. Perhaps my body’s senses, awakened from those days, reacted without my knowing.”
I tensed, furrowing my brow. What had he seen?
“I feigned sleep and opened my eyes slightly, scanning my surroundings. Indeed, there were people in tattered garments wandering like ghosts… or rather, actual ghosts moving about. And more astonishing still, though I can scarcely believe it even now… all these tombstones and broken stones vanished, and in their place stood a clean, towering castle built of blue stone.”
Even now, as nocturnal visions spilled from a single voice, the surroundings remained brilliantly illuminated beneath the white sunlight.
Daphnen understood well the situation Zero was attempting to explain.
When he first encountered the phantom children, hadn’t the village’s appearance transformed, revealing the Obelisk inscribed with the names of the dead?
And when he first arrived on The Island, hadn’t he witnessed the landscape suddenly shift into something entirely different?
“I couldn’t move at all. The transparent beings moved in and out of that castle built of blue stone, conversing and laughing among themselves, yet their bearing and composure appeared so solemn and sacred that the mere fact of my watching them felt like a grave transgression. I wondered if witnessing them alone constituted a sin worthy of death. Seized by such thoughts, I could only pretend to sleep.”
“Then how did they disappear?”
“Well, you’ll laugh at this, but I truly fell asleep again. Despite my vigilance, I was simultaneously overcome by a strange peace. Perhaps it was because I yearned to become one with them, even in the realm of sleep.”
Zero smiled bitterly.
“When I awoke, it was late morning, and around me lay only the broken tombstones as usual. I never saw them again after that. Those noble spirits—were they the owners of these stones? Or were they ancestors brought here from the Magic Kingdom?”
Daphnen shook his head several times, hesitated, and finally spoke.
“Sir, what you saw was not a dream or hallucination. It was real. Even if no one else believes it, I do.”
Zero wore a bewildered expression before laughing—as if to say that your belief itself was unbelievable.
“Those spirits have been watching over us for centuries. They even record the significant events that happen to us. All the names of those who died on The Island are inscribed there. That Obelisk—”
“What are you saying, Daphnen?”
Zero looked at Daphnen with alarm. So many words had poured out at once that it sounded almost like a joke or a lie.
Daphnen swallowed briefly, then strengthened his voice.
“I’ve also seen the spirits you saw. The ones I encountered were children, though. I even played alongside them. So you remember when I fell from the Cliff and remained unconscious for so long? At that time, my soul was living with them.”
“Is that… truly so?”
Zero’s voice trembled slightly. In truth, Daphnen was also somewhat nervous. This was the first time he had spoken so specifically about the spirits to anyone.
“Then what did they tell you? Do you know their true nature?”
He could only shake his head.
“I don’t know. They didn’t speak of such things. At that time, I forgot myself and was absorbed in play with them. Separated from my body, my sense of reality vanished. In other words, I too existed as only a spirit. A living soul wandering about, one might say.”
In truth, meeting Endymion and the others was not the first time. However, the incident where he first encountered a spirit because of the Winterer and disappeared from the village remained a secret known only to Nauplion and a few others.
Suddenly, Zero gripped Daphnen’s shoulder firmly.
“Tell me everything about them. Even if you don’t know their true nature, I want to hear any story at all. What does it mean that they record the dead? Do they know everything about The Island?”
At first, Zero had said what he saw was not a dream, but it seemed he had harbored some doubt in his heart. Now that Daphnen had confirmed it again, he was moved beyond mere joy.
However, Daphnen had little to tell. He recalled and recounted how Endymion had said he died centuries ago, the Obelisk inscribed with the names of the dead, the ancient paving stones and pillars resembling the Town Hall of the Upper Village, and how he had fallen asleep in the Egg Cave.
And finally, he mentioned that there existed beings the phantom children called “adult spirits,” and that they must not learn of his entry into their world.
Zero bowed his head in thought before speaking.
“I recall Priestess Despoina mentioning that your special sword possesses the power to pierce through other worlds and Alternate Spaces. She said so at the meeting held in the Town Hall when you were lost. If that’s the case, then the place you went to was likely an Alternate Space overlaid upon this world.”
Daphnen’s thoughts aligned with this. As he nodded, Zero continued.
“Yes. Then the spirits have been living there all along, and I too must have briefly entered their world. According to your account, it may have been because I desperately yearned for their world, and my memories aligned with one of theirs.”
The two sat down side by side before a large tomb. After thinking a moment longer, Zero spoke.
“If they’ve been dead for centuries, they ought to be those who died on The Island, yet something troubles me. With so many child spirits present and possessing considerable power, can they truly be islanders? I don’t believe so. Those who came to this land lost their magic.”
Zero’s brow furrowed. Suspicion flickered in his eyes.
“Perhaps they deliberately did not reveal the exact span of years. But if this thought is correct, why did they leave Ganapoli and come here? Was the corruption of that land truly unbearable even for the dead?”
The wind blew, scattering fragments of withered grass. Both fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.
“Daphnen.”
Zero spoke while his gaze remained fixed elsewhere.
“Why did such a thing happen to you?”
“I don’t know….”
“Was it merely the power of the sword you wielded? While listening to your account, I already sensed there were many things you left unsaid.”
“….”
“The shadows of Ganapoli are sending you signals. Abandoning the countless descendants of The Island, they persistently reach out to you—a foreigner. Why? Perhaps it’s because you alone stand apart from The Island’s distorted history, untainted by it. Those noble ones could never endure such a fabricated past.”
Zero gazed upward at the sky. The sun had vanished from the blue expanse enclosed by the Cliff’s rim.
“I despise them both—the Moon Queen and the sword.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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