Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 320

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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 90.
Ninety-Eight Souls (3)
2. The Pink Dress
Dancing, laughing, conversing
Treading through flower fields and streams
Peach and lily—my sister’s hues
Lingering, remaining, following behind
When I opened my eyes, she was already gone
Fading, fading, vanishing from sight
I woke from a dream plagued by her absence, only to find him standing there.
“Ah… it’s been a while.”
I stared up blankly, and that was all I could manage to say. Kelsniti, standing beside my bed, offered that translucent smile only he could produce—his expression gentle as if he’d listen to all the world’s troubles, yet his words would surely contradict it entirely.
「About those potatoes—it must have taken three days to peel them all.」
Hearing that, I felt a petulant expression cross my own face.
“While I was doing that, where were you off playing around leisurely? Don’t you feel any remorse? Do you have any idea how much Maximian and I suffered peeling those potatoes?”
「You must have had it rough. But all those potatoes you ate before—someone peeled those too, didn’t they? Ask of me only the gratitude you held for them. Besides, I didn’t even eat the potatoes you peeled.」
“Bah, I barely ate potatoes back then. I’d wager the potatoes I peeled yesterday exceed everything I’ve eaten in my entire life.”
「Potatoes alone, perhaps. You’re as difficult to handle as a picky child. Did you know the kitchen ladies at Jade Ring Castle called you ‘the young master, thin as a bundle of sticks’?」
Kelsniti’s tone resembled that of uncles teasing their young nephews. Though generations apart, Joshua—being Icabon’s descendant—held the status of a friend’s son to Kelsniti, making him perfectly qualified for what would typically be called “uncle.”
As I lifted myself slightly, the candle on the table ignited of its own accord. Of course, Kelsniti had lit it. I smiled wryly.
“If you tell me such things, you’ll put the ladies in an awkward position.”
But I didn’t stop there.
“However, Kelce, your habit of secretly watching the ladies isn’t becoming. Your face may be what it is, but you’re an elder who’s lived hundreds of years. You should conduct yourself with dignity.”
While Kelsniti was at a loss for words, I found the clothes I’d shed last night and began pulling on my trousers.
My room was beneath the eaves—a sloped ceiling, a bed positioned so precisely that one would crack their forehead on the corner if they sat up too quickly, an entrance requiring one to stoop to exit—a faithful recreation of a poor kitchen servant’s attic. Between my bed and the opposite table lay barely enough space for one person to squeeze through. It was a perfect specimen of spatial efficiency.
Once dressed, the cramped quarters left me no choice but to sit back on the bed. Recalling the last time I’d spoken with Kelsniti, it felt as though a month had passed since then. So much had happened in the interim.
“Do you know how many terrible things happened to me during those days you were gone?”
Kelsniti shook his head, his smile radiant—whether from spite or something else.
「Not at all.」
I grumbled in frustration.
“Why don’t I have a helpful spirit attached to me who solves difficult problems so effortlessly?”
「Be grateful you don’t have a spirit clinging to the ceiling with blood dripping from its mouth.」
I laughed without a trace of fear.
“What is that? A friend of yours? It must be exhausting to apply such messy makeup and cling upside-down to the ceiling. You’d never bother with something so tedious, so I can’t quite picture it. By the way, how did you know about the potatoes? Do you really believe we peeled them all in half a day?”
Kelsniti tilted his chin slightly and spoke in a measured tone.
「I went to the kitchen and found potato peels piled like a mountain, spoons worn down to nothing, and thought to myself: you’ve suffered greatly, truly. All those potatoes in half a day….」
Regardless of the words themselves, his expression conveyed the intent clearly enough. No sympathy, no interest—surely you understand?
I matched his cunning with a sly smile of my own.
“Why would a spirit who doesn’t even eat food go to the kitchen? Oh, I suppose you didn’t realize there are no ladies here in this kitchen?”
In the end, Kelsniti threw up his hands.
“Enough. Your family bloodline passes down every bad trait without exception.”
Joshua quickly caught on and spoke up.
“Perhaps that person couldn’t give it up either.”
“Give what up?”
“The pleasure of teasing you. I have to say, it’s not bad feeling a kinship with an ancestor across the ages.”
In truth, Kelsniti used to get the better of Joshua far more often, so days that ended in Joshua’s victory were rare. Kelsniti quickly realized why Joshua had changed.
“Joshua, you were so eager to see Rifkne, and now you’re already picking up his mannerisms the moment you meet. You really do learn everything quickly.”
Joshua shook his head vigorously.
“No, no, Rifkne isn’t anything like this. You just haven’t properly experienced him yet, but if you ever get the chance, I’ll show you—”
Kelsniti cut him off, pretending not to hear.
“Well then, I suppose I should tell you the important matter I’ve prepared for you. Oh, what a disinterested expression. But this is a rather dangerous problem for you.”
Just then, the very Rifkne mentioned in conversation burst through the door as if he might tear it from its hinges, thrusting his head inside.
“What, danger again? Why are you always bringing up danger?”
The next to enter had no choice but to stoop low. Maximian came in, kicked the door shut with his hind legs, and spoke while gazing vaguely toward some invisible other person.
“The hard times pass and things get a little better, and only then do you show up. You really do live a safe life, Ghost. But the only news you bring is more ‘danger’? You have no talent for being a welcome guest. And why is this door so stiff?”
“That’s because you opened it the wrong way.”
Joshua began to giggle, and Maximian, glancing back at the door that hung awkwardly ajar, wrinkled his nose in displeasure.
“My life is too exhausting to consider the preferences of doors. Achoo!”
“You don’t seem to have slept well, Rifkne.”
Joshua said as well.
“Your face is swollen.”
“Yes, it’s swollen. Potatoes tormented me all night in my dreams—I’m barely alive.”
“Did they chase after you asking you to count them? ‘I’m the hundredth potato! Count me accurately!’ Like that?”
Maximian, caught in his truth, narrowed his eyes and looked back.
“Hey Jo, are you mocking me right now?”
Since the advantage in wit was clearly on Joshua’s side, he answered only with a smile. When he turned his gaze, Kelsniti stood by the window and pointed. Open it?
Carefully approaching so as not to bump his head, Joshua opened the window shutter, and through the dimness he could see something like a meadow. It seemed there was still about half an hour before dawn. The meadow was quite vast, and—
“Huh?”
Something tickled at his memory, then suddenly became clear. This was that very meadow where the group had wandered about searching for some boundary stone or other with Caesar.
“How is this possible?”
Maximian got up and went to the window.
“Wait, why do I see completely different places when I look out from the first floor versus the second floor?”
Kelsniti responded to Maximian’s complaint.
“There could be various reasons. For instance, the first floor windows face only east while the second floor windows face only west.”
“That’s a fairly convincing explanation, but then how do you explain the world I saw from the first floor being autumn?”
Only then did Kelsniti drop the jest and speak.
“That is the first sign of danger. Allow me to share my thoughts. This is the Mage’s House. The owner of this house doesn’t appear to be an ordinary mage. There is a power within the house that binds the flow of magical energy, and it has greatly distorted the spacetime of this entire area. As a result, it has become a place where things that cannot coexist in time and space are jumbled together at will. Summer, winter, or anything else.”
“But you told Joshua earlier this was a dangerous problem, didn’t you?”
“The danger lies in the fact that your friend is a medium of virtually unparalleled power.”
Maximian made a confused expression, and Joshua spoke.
“Explain it more precisely. What’s the connection between distorted spacetime and spirits?”
「For the dead like me, the coordinates of living humans are nearly useless. If I wished, I could leap across vast distances in an instant, and walls mean nothing. If humans use mountains, cities, and distances as their coordinates to move about, what do you think spirits use as theirs?」
Joshua answered immediately.
“You follow me around.”
「That’s right. I follow you. One person. But not all spirits are like that.」
Suddenly, an empty bowl sitting beside the candlestick began to tremble.
Rrrrrrrr….
The sound of the brass bowl vibrating like a cricket was clearly audible to everyone. Joshua looked at Kelsniti. Maximian followed Joshua’s gaze. To Joshua, Kelsniti appeared as a living person. Yet he did not touch the bowl.
Eventually, the bowl stopped.
As the trembling in the air subsided, Joshua hesitated before parting his lips.
“Kelce?”
Since meeting Kelsniti, Joshua had never found himself afraid of spirits, but this time his voice carried an odd quality. Rather than answering, Kelsniti continued speaking.
「Unless bound to a place or a person, a spirit’s general coordinates are energy. The flow of all forces, including magical power. We get swept along by such things or follow in their wake. Think about it. The dead have no sensation. The sting of a needle pricking fingertips, the chill of cold water sliding down the throat, the spring of feet striking the ground as you run with all your might—none of that exists. Yet we remember it. That’s why spirits are fundamentally in a state of frustration. Have you heard the story of a person whose big toe itches, but it’s already been amputated and gone, so they can’t scratch it and go mad? Spirits have nothing, not just a toe, but if they could, they’d want to scrub their skin raw with sandpaper.」
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright of this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
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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