Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 499

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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 269.
Beneath the Almond Tree (12)
Though some harbored resentment toward Joshua, toward Icabon, the fact remained unchanged—they were all bound by oath to the Duke Arnim. Or perhaps only the Demonic Duke Arnim was bound in such a way. If that were true, there had been none like Icabon until now. And Joshua would be only the second.
“I have never allowed a Demonic into the Vineyard.”
Tichiel’s words from earlier came back to me.
“Why is that?”
“The Vineyard is the world. The universe. Words unrecorded. Land unconquerable. We merely borrow a corner to cultivate our grapes. No one can swallow all the knowledge within it. Not even if they lived for centuries, for millennia.”
The words sounded like a warning against carrying the Vineyard’s knowledge away in memory. Joshua shook his head.
“I have no such intention.”
“That is a force you cannot control yourself. If you set a splinter of wood upon a lake, it merely floats. But cotton—cotton would drink in the water in an instant and sink to the bottom shortly after.”
“Are you saying I would absorb knowledge like dry cotton and eventually exceed my limits?”
Professor Leomentiis’s sharp chin nodded twice.
“It’s easy to go mad.”
“Wait a moment.”
Maximian, who had been standing at an angle, suddenly interjected.
“In my opinion, even if this library were packed with books so densely that there wasn’t room to set foot, I don’t think it would exceed that fellow’s capacity.”
Though unspoken, it was Joshua’s thought as well. Maximian continued.
“If you’re concerned about the leakage of knowledge, I understand that much, but it feels like I’m hearing rather abstract worries.”
For the first time, something resembling a smile appeared at the corners of Professor Leomentiis’s mouth.
“I imagined something grand because it’s a place not everyone can enter, but it looked disappointingly small, didn’t it?”
“That’s not what I meant….”
Before Joshua could finish speaking, Maximian replied.
“Honestly, that’s exactly it.”
Life gradually returned to Professor Leomentiis’s face. Interest kindled in her eyes.
“Since you said you don’t know magic, it’s no wonder you see it that way. Shall we take another look around?”
Without waiting for a response, she moved briskly toward the corridor facing the inner wall. Seeing Tichiel hurry after her, the two boys exchanged a glance before following suit.
As they made a full circuit along the corridor, they saw about a dozen rooms similar to where they had been standing. Yet nowhere did they see anything like a collection of books. There were only a few shabby bookshelves that looked worse than an ordinary study, holding at most fewer than a hundred volumes. In some rooms, people sat alone at desks, examining three or four books spread out, along with pictures and clay tablets. All the rooms were not even closed off by doors, so their interiors were fully visible as they walked.
When they returned to the first room, Professor Leomentiis turned to face them.
“Is this the library you imagined?”
Maximian, realizing the question was directed particularly at him, smacked his lips.
“This isn’t a library—it’s a reading room, isn’t it?”
Suddenly, a sharp laugh burst forth, startling all three of them. Professor Leomentiis soon stopped laughing but spoke with an expression entirely different from before.
“Ah, yes. You might be right. There are people here who view books and materials, but those books and materials are in a very distant place.”
Still unable to understand, Maximian looked at Tichiel.
“Could you explain that in simpler terms?”
“Well, Professor, would it be alright if I explained?”
When the Professor nodded, Tichiel continued.
“All the books and materials in the Vineyard exist in an Alternate Space. An Alternate Space is layered over our world but cannot be seen or touched without special power. The Alternate Space the Vineyard uses is infinitely vast, so anything can be stored there, but if you put something in carelessly, you’ll never find it again. Inside, there’s truly everything imaginable. Especially, the spirits of the dead often linger in that place.”
“That means you’ve been inside it yourself?”
Tichiel nodded without hesitation.
“You must be cautious, but if you follow the principles, it’s not nearly as dangerous as all that. Of course, visiting frequently isn’t advisable. In any case, because it’s possible, the great mages of old created repositories within the Alternate Space. Once you place materials in the Alternate Space, they cannot be found without the predetermined key incantation. Since it’s not a physical space like our world, what you think you’ve placed in a certain location doesn’t always remain there. In any case, if you know how to use it, it’s far safer than hiding something somewhere in the real world.”
Joshua asked.
“Not just anyone could do that, though?”
“Of course not. Placing materials there is difficult, but once they’re placed, retrieving them—that is, merely making temporary contact as someone who has received the key incantation—isn’t as hard. That’s why everyone who comes here carries that key incantation and retrieves materials to view. Of course, contact with anything beyond what’s permitted is forbidden. Each chamber’s desk has magic already cast upon it to make this possible.”
“Then how vast is the collection of materials here in the Vineyard?”
“I don’t know either. Probably no one does. Because there are materials placed by mages from very long ago, and among those, many have never been retrieved because the key incantations were lost or no one has ever tried to test them. There are also materials without physical form, and those can only be accessed by certain people. Those were mostly placed by the Ganapolian Mages.”
“Ganapoli?”
As the story grew increasingly extraordinary, Joshua looked up at the ceiling while Maximian looked down at the floor.
“When exactly did that library in the Alternate Space come into being?”
“No one knows. Before Nenyaple created the Vineyard, all those materials were dormant. There are traces that someone hastily swept the materials from the library there into the Alternate Space just before Ganapoli’s fall. Willey Ridel, who first discovered the repository in the Alternate Space, made accessing the materials from Ganapoli’s final era his life’s work and even passed it down to his disciples, but even now, very little has been uncovered. There’s simply too much, and it’s all jumbled together, making it extremely difficult to find the key incantations. It’s said that the materials whose key incantations haven’t been found likely number in the thousands of times those that have been discovered.”
Maximian waved his hand.
“Stop. I can’t even imagine anymore.”
When I turned around, Professor Leomentiis wore a rather satisfied expression. It occurred to me that this professor, though in a different direction from Juspian, likely possessed quite the questionable taste.
Joshua adopted a respectful demeanor.
“I understand the meaning of your words, Professor. I also have no intention of leaving here having learned magic.”
“Good. You mustn’t learn magic. Magic is a vast world that transcends human comprehension, like the repository of the Vineyard, and an ordinary human, no matter how hard they strive their entire life, can achieve at most the sweeping of the Temple’s steps. If someone like you were to absorb everything so rapidly, you would indeed rise to great heights in an instant, but as a result, you would sink to the bottom of the Lake.”
It was similar to something Joshua himself had once told Richard Fell in Periwinkle. Instead of answering, Joshua merely smiled. He knew well how thin the membrane was that composed his own spirit, one that could accept even ghosts so readily.
Soon after, Professor Leomentiis turned to Tichiel and frowned slightly.
“Tichiel, so that’s why you came.”
Tichiel grasped her skirt and bowed lightly.
“I ask for your permission, Professor.”
“Tell your father that if he’s grown old, he should die soon.”
Tichiel, as if accustomed to such harsh words, smiled brightly and turned to the two young men.
“He’s given his permission. Let’s go.”
I didn’t understand why that constituted permission, but since Tichiel said so, there was no need to question it. The two quickly exchanged greetings and followed Tichiel down the corridor. Maximian muttered.
“What a generous professor. After hearing all that—Demonic, Doppelgänger, spirit medium—he still listens to you. Most people would hear just one of those things and never want to associate with someone like you again.”
“Hearing you say that, it seems gaining someone’s favor is quite an extraordinary thing.”
“Yes. You’re trying to balance the scales with just the title of Young Duke, but unfortunately it’s not easy.”
Tichiel began turning left, passed two chambers, and stopped before the third.
“Let’s use this one.”
Fundamentally, it didn’t look much different from Professor Leomentiis’s chamber. The bookshelves on both sides held not a single book. On the desk lay a black stone that gleamed like a night sky scattered with stars. It was a rectangle with rounded edges, and several incomprehensible characters were carved into its surface.
Joshua asked.
“How long can we stay here?”
“Every ten days, you must have the key incantations you’ve written inspected. And you must receive approval to use it again. If approvals keep being granted, you could stay for years.”
Maximian perched on the edge of the desk and continued.
“There are only about a dozen or so chambers, so shouldn’t there be a crowd of people waiting to get in? Why are there so many empty ones? Does everyone have no interest in books?”
“Is it that approval isn’t easy to obtain?”
At Joshua’s words, Tichiel laughed.
“Yes. You got it exactly right.”
Tichiel inspected every corner of the chamber carefully and examined the desk as well, then nodded as if satisfied and turned back to the two young men.
“Then let me explain what you need to know. First, Joshua cannot use this document. Since it grants access to the repository in the Alternate Space, he mustn’t touch it.”
Joshua nodded. Maximian grinned.
“Then I can use it?”
“Yes, technically you can, but it will probably be difficult for you.”
“Do you need to know magic to use it? Then Joshua couldn’t touch it anyway, right?”
“You don’t need to know magic, but most of the materials are in the ancient language—Ganapolian, that is.”
“…Fine, go ahead and read to your heart’s content.”
Joshua offered Maximian a sympathetic smile, then turned to Tichiel.
“Well, it’s unfortunate that I can’t examine the materials directly, but while I’m here, couldn’t you teach me some of the ancient language? Not knowing it has been inconvenient at times. And there should be plenty of books to study from in a place like this.”
The ancient language typically took years of grueling study to master, but for Joshua it would be merely decades of work. Yet Tichiel shook her head.
“That won’t be possible.”
Joshua’s expression fell with disappointment.
“Of course, teaching would be tedious, but…honestly, it wouldn’t be that much trouble.”
Tichiel shook her head again.
“That’s not the issue. If Joshua cannot learn magic, then he cannot learn the ancient language either. The characters themselves are often already incantations. In other words, learning the ancient language means naturally absorbing spells in the process. That’s why I have no choice but to read it myself and explain it to you piece by piece.”
Joshua laughed helplessly.
“That’s far more troublesome than teaching me the ancient language.”
Tichiel spoke with genuine apology.
“But there’s no way around it.”
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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