Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 398

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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 168.
In the Name of Loyalty and Vengeance (10)
“Convincing, isn’t it?”
Korned chuckled to himself, then picked up a pen and approached the sand figure. He tapped the upper arm of the right arm. Rather than crumbling, the sand figure’s arm drooped as if it had always been a single mass. By the nature of sand, such a thing should have been impossible.
Korned turned to look at Riche, whose eyes had grown wide.
“Move it.”
“Move what?”
Korned grew irritated.
“Your arm, obviously. What do you think I just did?”
Riche hesitated, then moved her right arm slightly. She drew in a sharp breath. Again, this time in the opposite direction. It was no illusion. The arm that had been broken had returned to its complete state. It was as if the breaking of her arm had been nothing but a dream.
Seeing Riche’s expression, Korned bared his teeth in a grin.
“You look absolutely astounded.”
At that moment, Riche was indeed surprised, but the relief of her body being whole again had diminished much of her ill will toward him. So she spoke honestly.
“Thank you. Really.”
“Don’t thank me. I made a promise with the Duke, not with you.”
“Even so. I’m free to be grateful, aren’t I?”
“Free, yes. But I’m equally free not to care.”
This man must have been insufferably arrogant even in life.
“So is it finished now?”
“Finished? I still need to dispose of this figure.”
Riche’s eyes widened as she asked.
“Is this really a figure? Like Joshua’s puppet?”
“Far more primitive than that… Look, I’m not a puppeteer! This is something Ganapoli used for therapeutic purposes—far more practical…”
Korned trailed off mid-sentence, apparently angered by his own slip in calling his creation primitive.
“Stop pestering me with questions! Would you even understand if I explained? Keep annoying me and I’ll leave this figure as is. Then the tide will come and wash away the sand puppet, and the moment it does, your arm will break again and you’ll be back to not being able to speak. Got it?”
Riche closed her mouth, but inwardly she noted that this spirit’s manner of speech had changed from the beginning. At first, this ghost had behaved like an old man, or at least someone over forty, but now he was throwing a tantrum like a child.
Of course, he couldn’t actually be a child. She’d heard he was a skilled mage, and Maximian had mentioned that Korned’s younger sister, Corbel, had a voice that sounded over twenty, so his actual voice was anyone’s guess since he was currently borrowing Joshua’s vocal cords.
Korned picked up a bowl that had been placed beside the sand figure and held it right up to Riche’s face to show her.
“This is the true form.”
Inside the bowl lay only a handful of strange ash-gray powder. Not a trace of Riche’s rose-colored hair or blood stains remained.
“This…”
Korned stepped back with the bowl in hand.
“Like this.”
Korned snapped his fingers once at empty air, and a flame ignited at his fingertip. Without any sign of heat, he casually transferred the flame to the bowl. Fire erupted from the powder inside. Though there was little to burn, the flames burned for quite some time before gradually diminishing and shrinking.
The diminished flame was now white. With his face twisted grotesquely in the firelight, Korned spoke.
“We call it bone fire.”
With a soft pop, the flame extinguished. Riche immediately turned to look at the sand figure. Just before the change occurred, she realized the figure resembled her so strikingly that she felt an odd sense of pressure. Even though it was merely a sand relief rather than the bone and flesh of a living person.
The figure crumbled slowly. First its outline blurred, then the body that had maintained clear dimensions transformed into a small mound. It continued spreading across the sandy beach. Until it became indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape. It vanished, taking with it the broken arm and lost voice that had belonged to Riche.
Riche, who had watched in silence until the end, finally turned to look at Korned when no trace remained. Korned too was watching the spot where the figure had been with a serious expression.
Riche opened her mouth.
“That doll… it merely resembled me, didn’t it? It wasn’t actually alive or… anything like that, was it? Just a sand sculpture, something like that, right?”
Korned looked at Riche, his expression distinctly unpleasant.
“What do you think of Ganapoli’s dolls? Or are you mocking my magic? Of course it was alive.”
“It was alive? But it was made of sand, it didn’t move, and it didn’t speak?”
Korned let out a derisive snort.
“It had the appearance of sand because that’s what the material demanded—there was no other choice. What, did you think the Duke’s dolls are made by gathering human flesh? And you’re really amusing, you know. Who was it lying there just moments ago, unable to move or speak?”
Riche looked down at the sandy beach again in confusion.
“W-what are you saying? That?”
“You. Wasn’t it you? The doll broke its arm and lost its voice in your place—what more do you expect? Of course it couldn’t rise. Just as you couldn’t. Of course it couldn’t speak. Just as you couldn’t.”
Riche remained still at first. But shortly after, she began to tremble.
“If… if that’s the case, then… if I hadn’t transferred my body’s afflictions to it, that sand doll would have been able to speak, and stand up, and walk around, and… is that what you’re saying?”
Korned twisted his mouth.
“Since the original body was so pathetic, it probably would have lasted only briefly.”
“In G-Ganapoli, do they… do they always treat people this way? Creating a living doll, transferring it, destroying the doll—I mean, breaking it, and… like that?”
“Not always. Only when time is short and there’s no other way to fix a serious problem. Like you were just now. Understand? Why don’t you stop asking? The way you prattle on, you’d think you were grasping all of Ganapoli Magic. But that’s impossible, isn’t it?”
Riche asked no more questions, but her trembling didn’t easily subside. Korned frowned and sat down on the sandy beach. Shortly after, Riche also sat, though she paid him no mind. Hunched in on herself, she remained lost in thought. Korned sat in silence before muttering something disagreeable.
“Truly. Ordinary people, I tell you.”
After more time had passed, Korned suddenly stood and went to Riche’s side. And he embraced her.
“….”
A moment later, Riche also held him—or rather, it would be more accurate to say she nestled into his embrace. With her face buried against the boy’s shoulder, Riche spoke.
“Joshua.”
The body of Joshua that Korned wore trembled slightly. Riche seemed not to notice. Her words continued.
“I think I understand how you felt now.”
It was not a brief time. A faint crimson band stretched across the eastern sea. Dawn was drawing near. When Riche’s trembling finally ceased, Korned released his hold and stood. Riche also rose and took a few steps back. And she spoke reflexively.
“I’m sorry.”
Riche’s tone had reverted to formal speech. Korned seemed to notice this as well. He drew his brows together and shot back.
“Sorry for what? You have nothing to apologize to me for.”
“Still….”
Korned tilted his head and smiled again—a smile never before seen on Joshua’s face, yet one that suited him strangely well.
“I’d say you should be grateful rather than apologetic, wouldn’t you?”
“Grateful?”
“It must have been pleasant.”
Korned made an arrogant gesture, spreading his fingers to point at himself.
“Since I embraced you in the Duke’s stead, it must have been quite pleasant, no?”
Now Riche’s brows rose as well.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s obvious an ordinary girl like you would have fallen in love with such an accomplished Duke. But if it were the Duke, he would never have embraced you like I did—so how fortunate, getting this vicarious satisfaction? Offer me some proper thanks.”
Korned didn’t know Riche as well as his words suggested. He had often seen her following Joshua, but that was different from spending time together. And before, his interest had been in Joshua alone; there was no particular reason to pay special attention to Riche.
So he hadn’t anticipated the reaction that would follow this moment.
Smack!
Now that Riche had recovered her health, her kick connected squarely with Korned’s knee—or rather, with the knee of the one who truly felt the pain. She’d driven it home with such force that he couldn’t even regain his footing before tumbling onto the Sandy Beach. And true to her passionate nature, Riche didn’t stop at a single blow. Without mercy for her fallen opponent, she delivered three or four more kicks in rapid succession before finally venting her frustration with a muttered comment.
“After lying around all day, moving around like this actually feels good.”
Korned remained on the ground, making no attempt to rise. It didn’t seem he was unable to—merely unwilling. Of course, Riche’s kicks were far from ordinary for someone her age. A moment later, Korned burst into laughter. It was a loud, booming sound that echoed across the beach.
“Ha ha, ha ha, ha ha ha ha….”
Riche stared down at him rolling on the sand in laughter, utterly bewildered.
“What on earth are you laughing about?”
“Ha ha, ha ha ha….”
When his laughter showed no signs of stopping, Riche’s cheek twitched and she planted her hands on her hips, shouting at him.
“Stop laughing like a madman and get up already!”
“Ha ha ha. Ah, yes. Ha ha ha… Am I mad? This is something. Heh heh heh.”
Finally rising to sit up, Korned gestured for Riche to join him on the ground.
“Why? Do you have more to say? If you’re done, then leave.”
Her formal speech had vanished beyond the horizon long ago. But when Riche’s curiosity got the better of her and she sat down, Korned smiled broadly. That smile was so similar to Joshua’s usual expression that Riche found herself flinching involuntarily.
“Having a human body is truly wonderful.”
“Really? So getting kicked gives you pleasure too?”
Korned turned his head slightly and smiled again.
“For one who lived for centuries as a great Mage, this was the only thing I lacked. A human body. Ah, it was truly agonizing. I never knew a human body could bring such pleasure before losing it. I never knew that the memory of such pleasure alone could cause such pain.”
Korned’s smile faded as he looked at Riche’s face. She tried hard not to misunderstand. That expression wasn’t Joshua’s face about to discuss something serious—the face he wore just before doing something insane. It was merely similar. Or rather, it was the same, but regardless… the person making the expression was different.
“Which is precisely why I have absolutely no desire to return to my former state.”
Riche’s eyes widened. Only then did she grasp her own predicament. This shouldn’t be happening. Joshua had said Korned couldn’t possibly break his promise, hadn’t he?
“Y-you can’t break the promise you made with Joshua!”
“That’s the thing. It’s a rather subtle matter.”
Korned’s expression was utterly composed. Riche felt a chill run through her. How could this be? Joshua wasn’t a fool. There was no way he’d made a promise with a loophole for Korned to slip through.
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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