Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 395

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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 165.
In the Name of Loyalty and Vengeance (7)
At last, Maximian opened his mouth.
“This insane monster… Ugh, how irritating. I should have learned beforehand what expression to wear when hearing something so inhumane. Though I did wonder where you got such tenacity from, given your constitution. Anyway, why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I couldn’t speak until I had complete dominion over them. It took some time.”
“Don’t give me that lie about knowing this would happen before we started. In other words, we nearly lost you without even realizing it and ended up sitting face-to-face with some Spirit instead.”
Ordinarily, Maximian would have raised his voice in protest, but he did not. Concern seized him so thoroughly that the impulse to rage never surfaced.
Joshua tilted his head slightly.
“True enough, but it was still quite a gamble. And realistically, ever since the possession incident, they keep pestering me—it’s unbearably loud. Covering my ears doesn’t stop me from hearing them. Honestly, anyone else would be unable to work, let alone manage daily life in this state. So I thought it was time to turn the situation around. Now I can simply silence them whenever I wish. In my own way, things have become more… pleasant.”
Joshua continued speaking as he ran his hand through his hair, disheveling it slightly.
“The key to dominion was understanding why they lingered around me—what they hoped to gain from me.”
“What they want is obviously your body as a medium, isn’t it?”
“No. That won’t work. They cannot enter unless I permit it. Though once inside, they might resist leaving…”
It was a chilling thing to say in such a matter-of-fact tone. Riche shrank back involuntarily.
“Then what do they want?”
“My guess is that they hope I will grant their wishes.”
“Are you some fairy from a storybook? Granting wishes?”
“Maximian, think about it. Spirits are those who failed to achieve their desires and did not dissipate even in death. They must have wishes. But what could they be?”
Riche then pulled Joshua’s hand and wrote with her finger.
The same wish as Kelce?
Joshua nodded, then shook his head.
“Yes, I considered that too, but something felt off. If they shared Kelce’s wish, why wouldn’t they cooperate with him?”
Riche wrote again.
Weren’t Kelce and they bound together, dying at the same time and place?
Maximian muttered.
“What are you two talking about? Are you investigating whether Kelsniti and the People of Promise are in league or not? If you ask me, if they were in league, why would they need to pretend otherwise? If they were all conspiring together and all appeared with flattery like Kelce, you would have trusted them as you trust Kelce, wouldn’t you? And if they had wishes, you’d feel obligated to grant them unless they were extraordinarily difficult, right? That you haven’t means they truly are at odds, and their wish must be extraordinarily difficult indeed. Why don’t you just ask them directly? Ask what their wish is.”
“I did ask, but they said it’s not yet the time to speak of it.”
“There you have it. So it’s either extraordinarily difficult or… it’s bound to harm you.”
Maximian’s casually thrown remark struck at the heart of the matter. The reason they could not speak of their wish while hoping for its fulfillment was obvious—they feared Joshua would refuse. Unless there existed some bizarre wish that could only be granted if Joshua remained ignorant of it beforehand.
Joshua spoke.
“In any case, the People of Promise don’t follow a single commander, so their thoughts differ. By conversing with them in turn to discern their wish, I learned one by one what I could do. One of those things was that I could ‘bind them again to a place.’ Apparently, the same applies to Kelce.”
“Why do you even have such an ability? You didn’t bind them to the Castle yourself.”
“They and Icabon made a pact long ago. That’s why they’re called the People of Promise. It seems they used magic that governs oaths at that time. When such magic is invoked, those who break their oath automatically incur a price. Icabon promised to grant their wish, whatever it was, and the People of Promise swore in return to offer him their loyalty. But there was a subtle loophole in the wording of that oath. Whether Icabon intended it, I cannot say…”
Though Icabon was Joshua’s ancestor, Joshua spoke of him with the detachment of a third party.
“Icabon swore the oath not in his own name, but under the name of the Demonic of House Arnim. So even though Icabon broke his promise, he did not suffer the curse of ‘half-death,’ the price of betrayal. Because all that was required was for some Demonic born of House Arnim to keep the promise. Even after Icabon’s death, as long as there remains any possibility of a Demonic being born in House Arnim, the oath remains unbroken. Therefore, the People of Promise must still fulfill their obligation to offer loyalty to the Demonic of House Arnim and entrust their freedom to them. Should they abandon this duty, they cannot escape the curse. That is why they cannot defy me.”
Maximian’s brow furrowed strangely.
“What is this ‘half-death curse’?”
“They do not die, but lose their humanity—becoming monsters called ‘risen corpses.’ But since they are already Spirits, they would lose their current consciousness and descend into madness. Like those Spirits said to exist in the Land of Mortals…”
Maximian clicked his tongue and exhaled.
“Your ancestor was no ordinary schemer.”
Joshua answered with a subtle smile.
“Even so, I have nothing more to say.”
Silence fell. So many staggering revelations had poured forth in succession that everyone struggled to grasp where to draw the line of acceptance. Yet before they could even decide, Joshua spoke again.
“So I’m going to summon Korned. We need to restore Riche’s voice.”
“And after you summon him? Are you going to have a consultation or something? Is that enough?”
“It’s not.”
Joshua wore that subtle smile once more.
“I’m going to necromance him.”
4. A Farewell
Say goodbye to Today in the night.
Today wishes to hear your farewell.
You will depart as that night begins
And never meet again, such is your fate.
You are even destined to be forgotten.
So bid me a tender goodbye.
Fare well, and thank you.
Today will surely weep then.
When that happens, simply comfort me.
Do not swear you will remember forever.
Today already knows.
That your oath is a lie.
You have only Tomorrow to love…
It was deep night, the hour uncertain. I guessed it must have been around three in the morning. There was no sign of dawn yet.
The window that Maximian had repaired—or rather, carelessly propped shut—hung slightly ajar, offering a clear view of the star-filled sky. The window was well-positioned above the bed where Riche lay, a placement the Straw Hat Pharmacist, the house’s owner, had surely chosen with this view in mind.
Having slept long after my injury, once I awoke, sleep would not return. As I lay gazing at the dark night sky through the opening, I noticed my body ached far less than expected. No, that was truly the case. My mind was clear, and aside from my injured right arm, movement came without much difficulty.
Turning my head, I saw three men beyond the curtain, each occupying a corner, their bodies wrapped snugly in blankets as they slept. It was natural they should sleep in the same house, since Riche’s condition meant they might be needed at any moment, but honestly, it was difficult not to be acutely aware that three men were sleeping just beyond a single curtain.
Because of this, when one of them suddenly rose, my body stiffened slightly. Without thinking, I feigned sleep.
The shadow stood motionless in the center of the room. Not drinking water or seeking fresh air—simply standing there. The two young men I had traveled with for relatively long showed no signs of sleepwalking, so I wondered if it might be Milestone. All three men were tall, making it difficult to distinguish between them by shadow alone beyond the curtain.
Soon the shadow brought both hands together and murmured something softly. Then light flashed—brilliantly illuminating the entire house for just a moment before vanishing instantly.
I tensed sharply. What was that light? No one in our group knew magic. Could it be an intruder? If the door had opened and closed silently, I might not have noticed. Or perhaps they had entered before I awoke.
The shadow turned. I felt their gaze fix upon me and trembled violently. Had I been able to cry out, I would have screamed, but my throat had gone rigid, producing no sound whatsoever.
I glanced urgently around and spotted something atop a small cabinet at the foot of the bed. I remembered Maximian had carelessly left medicine bottles there after pulling them from a basket beneath the bed. I could reach them by stretching my feet just a span or two. As I twisted my body, a sharp, tingling pain radiated through my right shoulder and arm. Gritting my teeth against it, I stretched out my foot. The moment I could barely touch them, I kicked, sending them tumbling. Two medicine bottles shattered as they fell, the sound shattering the quiet of the room.
Yet no one awoke. No one moved.
Instead, the shadow, which had been cautious until then, suddenly approached swiftly and pulled back the curtain. I no longer pretended to sleep. Rather, I opened my eyes wide and looked up at the figure looming over me. They bent toward the bed, peering down at my face.
“Riche.”
It was Joshua’s voice. The tightness in my chest eased, and I exhaled in relief. Had I been overly anxious? Just as I was about to relax, I sensed something—the texture of the voice felt subtly different from usual.
It was unmistakably Joshua’s voice, yet instead of the resonant, wide-ranging tenor of an accomplished actor, it was low, with a strange, wind-like quality woven through it. Not a boy’s voice, but a man’s. Was it merely because he was whispering?
“Don’t be frightened.”
His face was very close, silhouetted against the light. I tried to see clearly, but without illumination, I could not make out his expression. Joshua offered no further explanation, made no attempt to convince me. He simply spread the blanket that had slipped down as I kicked the bottles, wrapping it around my body. Then, sliding both arms beneath me, he lifted me effortlessly into his embrace.
“….”
Unable to respond, Riche could only continue staring into Joshua’s eyes. There was no other way to convey her meaning.
Somehow, this situation felt unreal, as though I were trapped in a dream. Everything was wrong. This was not something Joshua would do. Moreover, he lifted Riche with such ease—there was no strain in his movements as he carried her toward the entrance.
The door opened easily when Joshua pushed it with his shoulder. Even as he stepped outside and closed it behind him, the two men in the room showed no sign of waking. I knew Maximian was difficult to rouse once asleep, but why couldn’t Milestone—a man with a sailor’s experience—hear anything?
The night wind blowing from the Sea cooled my cheeks. Beneath a sky scattered with stars, the winding Slope Path stretched toward the Sea. As darkness concealed the marks of disaster, the mud-covered white walls and collapsed fences gleamed with a soft luminescence beneath the moonlight. The Island’s silence seemed to be a peace that had arrived because those who had ventured far the night before had finally fallen asleep.
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright to 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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