Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 292

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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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Episode 62.
Finding the Cat in the Furnace (11)
When I turned around, it was Muchia Benevento, whom Maximian had just rescued. Maximian gave me a puzzled look and spoke.
“Your leg is perfectly fine, isn’t it?”
“That’s—that’s not the important issue! Hurry! If we don’t get out now, we’ll all die!”
Riche responded in exasperation.
“We’re trying to leave right now, but you’re the one who called us, miss.”
In any case, Muchia seemed to believe that everyone’s escape would be meaningless unless she left with them. She rushed toward the others with determined vigor, joining their group despite their apparent indifference.
And so the man who had set the fire and tried to escape alone, the boy who wanted to save only his friend regardless of who might be trapped beneath the stage, the girl who thought only of her own escape whether the fallen person was dead or alive, and the actress who believed everyone should save her—these four selfish individuals swiftly formed a “group of self-interest” and exited the Performance Hall through a side door. Not one of them possessed the great sense of responsibility to consider how to address the opposite entrance blocked by flames.
By the time they barely escaped the Theater, the Colzetti Theater had already become a massive inferno. But the man who had been dragged out with them seized the moment when the group caught their breath and vanished into the crowd in an instant. Everyone saw it happen, but neither Maximian, who was carrying Joshua on his shoulders, nor the other two, exhausted from inhaling smoke, could muster the energy to pursue him.
Having regained her curiosity now that she had barely survived, Muchia tried to go watch the chaos at the main entrance, but Maximian shook his head and spoke in an almost commanding tone.
“Just follow me for now.”
Maximian threaded his way through the crowd as much as possible before slipping into a dark residential alley. Since everyone in the vicinity had rushed off to watch the theater fire, there were hardly any passersby. Once we reached that point, Muchia suddenly challenged him.
“Who do you think you are, ordering me around like this?”
The change in her tone and demeanor from when she was buried in stage debris was so complete that it seemed like a transformation only actors could achieve. Maximian started to let out a hollow laugh but stopped himself, instead pointing with his chin in the direction the escaped man had gone.
“That man from before—he was staring directly at your face.”
“My?”
In that moment, I was thinking that someone had recognized her beauty, when Maximian added:
“Don’t you think he might kill you?”
“What did you say?”
“What are you talking about?”
Riche also asked in confusion. Maximian found it difficult to continue and set Joshua down on the ground for a moment. Joshua, who normally seemed so thin that one might wonder if he had any weight at all, proved heavier than expected now that he was unconscious. It was nothing like carrying someone who was awake.
“What’s going on?”
Once he sat down on the ground, Maximian seemed to find explaining tiresome. He alternated his gaze between the two women’s faces before suddenly asking something different.
“You’re both from around here, aren’t you?”
It was a question he could answer without needing their response.
“Is there anywhere nearby to rent a room besides your own homes? And I’m emphasizing again—besides your own homes.”
Thanks to that blasted festival, Maximian knew better than anyone that there wasn’t a single vacant room left on the entire Island except for a barn.
“Why should we have to figure that out for you!”
When Muchia complained irritably, Riche let out a soft laugh and spoke.
“Since when were we ‘we’?”
“How should I know! I’m going home!”
As Muchia turned to leave, Maximian called out to her from behind. His voice was low and carried a warning tone.
“I’m telling you one last time—if you go home now, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
“What? Are you threatening me? Me, Muchia Benevento? Don’t you know what you’re doing?”
Muchia seemed more offended by being disregarded than by talk of safety. When Maximian still showed no reaction, she became even more upset.
“What do you mean about safety? I’m a famous actress. Don’t you know that if anyone dares to harm me, people won’t stand for it? Such a person would be buried on this Island immediately. So I’m leaving. Before you worry about my safety, shouldn’t you be concerned about your own?”
Having said that, Muchia truly ran back toward the Theater. Maximian, thinking he couldn’t abandon Joshua to chase after her, simply shrugged his shoulders.
“There’s a limit to how much you can interfere in other people’s affairs.”
Then he glanced at Riche.
“Are you going too?”
Riche raised her eyebrows slightly as she asked.
“This talk about safety—it applies to me as well?”
“Unfortunately, you, I, and that woman over there….”
Maximian gestured toward Joshua with a tilt of his chin.
“We’ve all become entangled in this boy’s affairs.”
“Entangled?”
“Someone so relentless that they collapsed the roof during a performance and set fire to a theater packed with people is now determined to find and kill one specific person. I can’t guarantee safety for myself, nor for you who’ve become an unwilling witness, nor for that woman from earlier.”
Riche’s eyes widened, but her expression showed she wasn’t entirely convinced.
“That’s strange. Who exactly is this person?”
“You don’t know? I thought anyone living on this island would know. Perhaps it’s because he’s not wearing a mask?”
Only then did Riche realize who the person wrapped in the coat was, and her face filled with shock. But this time, the words that came from her mouth startled Maximian.
“It was Jo, wasn’t it?”
5. Shared Fate
That boy is bound by far too many things. It’s as if he’s wearing shoes that are far too heavy.
But that’s a hundred times better than being barefoot like me.
The darkness began to fade.
Whether it was sweat or something else, it trickled down my forehead and kept getting into my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to move forward like a fish thrown onto cold stone. I wasn’t a strong Aquarian. I was a creature that could be wounded by the mere touch of a needle, one that couldn’t survive more than a few hours without water.
「Can you hear me?」
When that voice reached me, Joshua nearly jerked his head up without thinking. It was an unmistakably familiar voice.
「Don’t stay there. It’s too cold and damp. It’s not time for you to go to a place like that yet. Come here. Come to the light. Come to somewhere warm and soft. You fell asleep wrapped in a pale violet blanket, looking up at stars made of felt…」
Joshua couldn’t answer and bit his lip instead. He thought he was floundering, but now he realized he couldn’t move at all, as if trapped in a narrow box. But what was this voice talking about? He couldn’t remember. A voice like his sister’s, yet it couldn’t be her. It wasn’t her, she wasn’t here, it was similar to her, it must be her….
「Let’s go. You can walk now. There are many flowers blooming in the Garden. Come see them with me.」
Walk now? At those words, I tried to move my body, and my stiffened limbs suddenly loosened. The next moment, everything suddenly brightened, and I was running through a wide corridor.
It was a place I knew well. The Second Floor Corridor of Jade Ring Castle. Yet it was far wider and longer than I remembered. No matter how much I ran, it never ended. Where were the stairs? I was trying to get to the Garden, wasn’t I?
My pace gradually slowed, and when I couldn’t run anymore, I sat down right there. But when I sat, I found myself on top of a tree stump. Joshua thought again. Where am I? Where was I trying to go?
“That was hard, wasn’t it? Rest there for a moment.”
“Ah, Kelsniti.”
The moment I heard Kelsniti’s voice, the scenery around me became clear, and I returned to myself. Like waking from a dream. But this place wasn’t a familiar landscape either. I looked around trying to find Kelsniti, but unlike usual, there was only his voice. Yet it didn’t matter.
“How do you feel?”
Joshua thought for a moment before responding.
“It’s not that hard. I just sat down for a moment.”
“That won’t be true. Don’t strain yourself. Just stay as you are for now.”
“Until when?”
“Do you dislike that place?”
“It’s not that I dislike it, but I don’t know where it is.”
“You really don’t know?”
Joshua stood up and looked around, tilting his head in confusion. A broad sky stretched above his head.
“I’m not sure….”
I tried to remember. Had I been here before? Did it resemble something?
As I struggled to overlay the memories in my mind with what I saw, the sky transformed. A violet hue surged from the horizon, billowing forth like the breath of some colossal being. Startled, I glanced around, and beneath me, mountains rose like titans. In mere moments, I stood among towering peaks that pierced the layered ranges.
“Ah….”
Joshua stared at the transformed world with wide eyes. He seemed somewhat stifled. There were far too many mountains.
Then white mist rolled in. The shadows of the mountains vanished, erased entirely. The world opened wide in all directions. Without thinking, I turned in a circle, and the sky rotated with me. Only then did Joshua realize he could reshape this world as he wished. But where was this place?
“Have I been here before?”
“Yes, you have.”
“Then why….”
“You don’t remember? You only came at times like this.”
“Times like what?”
“When your life is in danger.”
My life in danger? Joshua stretched both arms outward. He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled. In truth, there was no need to exert himself. The air here was impossibly light. It felt as though I might simply float away. If I just lifted my feet once, like this.
“I’m not sure. Everything here is easy. Nothing feels difficult at all.”
“And why do you think that is?”
Because….
“I see. I shouldn’t be lingering here like this.”
Joshua looked around, searching for a path—or trying to create one. Something did appear. But he soon realized the truth: that path merely circled within this world.
“How do I get out?”
“You can’t do it on your own yet. Wait.”
“You mean someone will pull me out if I wait? Kelsniti?”
“No. The things you left behind in that other world. They will call for you. When they do, answer without fail. But until that call comes, you have no choice but to rest. Hush….”
Children of the Runes – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Month Books
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Month Books.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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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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