Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 515

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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 285.
Beneath the Almond Tree (28)
“I too have no way to verify your sincerity, sir. However, when both young men are upright enough not to deceive their own consciences, I can at least clarify one thing.”
“What is that?”
“The Young Duke, as the architect of the ‘Four Days of Lightning,’ cannot help but draw the enmity of the republicans. And Rosencrantz, as a principal figure in the incident where the Young Duke nearly lost his life, will find it difficult to earn easy forgiveness from him. Indeed, neither harbors any desire to beg the other’s pardon. In other words, they have already exchanged debts and have nothing left to settle.”
Hispanie stared at Giscar for a moment before suddenly bursting into laughter.
“Ha, haha… You are even skilled at sophistry. No, I won’t call it sophistry. Yet it is undeniable that you have brought forth facts this side had not considered, attempting to return the situation to its starting point.”
Giscar smiled briefly.
“Sir, if the Republic is weak, it will be difficult to conquer the Holy Kingdom Anomarad, and even if it were possible, it would collapse as swiftly as the Republic of old. If one of the three pillars falls in this manner, only a full-scale war between the remaining two remains, and in such a conflict, the weaker side sustains a mortal wound. At present, Anomarad, with its foundations firmly established, can only be the stronger power.”
Knowing these words to be realistic, Hispanie did not refute them. Instead, he asked.
“Do you believe Rosencrantz’s existence is decisive in strengthening the Republic?”
“It is. My designs, conducted over so long, would become worthless without him.”
Hispanie sat in thought for a moment, then drank his cooled tea in one gulp. Then he asked.
“Regarding the plan you have just laid before me—does the Exile Council share this same conviction?”
Giscar smiled faintly.
“As I mentioned, I did not consult the Exile Council’s opinion before coming here.”
Hispanie folded his arms and tilted his head.
“Then what do you represent? If not the Republic, in whose name have you come to negotiate with me?”
“After all, we are representatives of a nation that does not yet exist in this world. What kind of nation it will become remains unknown. We are only now beginning to create it.”
“Those are fine words indeed.”
Hispanie rose from his seat and extended his hand to his counterpart.
“Truthfully, I pondered the matters we have discussed today many times before you arrived. Yet without your masterful persuasion, I might have merely remained in contemplation.”
“That is not so. I have spoken at length, but I harbor a fearful suspicion that all of this may not have exceeded the bounds of what you anticipated. In any case, you are a possessor of boundless knowledge whom I have never encountered before.”
Hispanie could not help but laugh. Then he spoke.
“If you think so, I hope you will continue to do so. I perceive far more than people expect.”
Those words were no jest. Giscar nodded.
“I shall. But must I keep my curiosity to myself?”
Hispanie shook his head.
“I am pleased to have met you.”
“May I take those words as the conclusion of our negotiation?”
Instead of answering, Hispanie looked down at his extended hand. Giscar rose and grasped it. Hispanie spoke.
“This is but a small step forward. It is a promise made with you, not with the Exile Council, and therefore does not signify my aid to the Friends of the People.”
“I understand. Until a day comes when it can be revealed, today’s matter shall remain a secret between you and me alone.”
“I shall send word to you in four days. In the meantime, I hope Rosencrantz has not suffered too grave an injury.”
Giscar answered with a sorrowful smile.
Donning his cloak once more and drawing his hood low, Giscar was escorted by Hispanie to the door. The rain still fell. He wished to offer a carriage, yet such a thing was impossible. Walking through such weather was not because Giscar lacked a carriage.
At the entrance, Hispanie dismissed his servants and spoke.
“Today we became the first envoys between your nation and mine, discussing coexistence. Yet we cannot know how long this coexistence between our two nations shall endure.”
Giscar walked out into the rain and answered.
“That time will not be our era. Let us entrust the answer to the protagonists of that age.”
4. The Tree’s Lullaby
Upon the hill stands a solitary great tree
Within its branches dwell hundreds of birds
Their departure each dawn and return each dusk
Make the tree seem to die and be reborn.
When stars descend at night and ripen upon the branches
At dawn we gather what has fallen.
The round, ripe stars taste of chestnuts
The pointed, ripe stars taste of figs.
When winter arrives and the leaves have fallen away
The tree sleeps and dreams—dreams of summer
Winter birds carry fragments of these dreams in their beaks
And place them in their nests, never trembling through the cold.
Keltika’s mornings were often shrouded in mist. Around five in the morning, the alleys lay submerged in a bluish-gray haze.
A covered carriage broke the silence, passing through the narrow alley. The street was scarcely wide enough for it to pass. The vehicle barely scraped past the miscellaneous items and clotheslines hanging from both sides of the houses before coming to a halt at a small intersection. A man descended. The carriage vanished into the mist. Yet the sound of its wheels echoed for some time afterward.
Once the sound faded, the man entered another alley and emerged directly onto a main street. At the far end of the street opposite—what people called Rocang Baron Street—stood an old castle with three faded spires. It was Rocang Castle, which the Baron’s family had abandoned and the state had seized, now serving as both an interrogation chamber and a prison.
The man turned into that street, where few pedestrians ventured even during daylight, and proceeded to the front of Rocang Castle. Rather than the main gate, which remained firmly sealed day and night, he circled to the left and approached a side entrance. Two sentries stood guard.
“I’ve come to collect someone being released today.”
The man produced his credentials. The sentries searched him but found nothing of consequence. With his hat pulled low over his eyes and his collar raised high, his face was only cursorily examined before one sentry relayed word inside. Moments later, a door creaked open somewhere beyond the mist. The sentry pushed him forward.
“Go in.”
As the man took several steps, a cart suddenly emerged from the mist. The soldiers pulling it halted. After the accompanying sentry exchanged a few words with them, they gestured to the man. He approached the cart. Upon it lay a figure wrapped tightly in a filthy blanket. He did not appear to be conscious.
The man bent down and, blanket and all, lifted the figure onto his shoulders. Though powerfully built, he found his burden shockingly light—scarcely requiring any exertion.
“Thank you for your trouble.”
Moments after the man slipped through the side entrance, several soldiers suddenly burst from it in pursuit, as if some alarm had been raised. The moment the man heard their footsteps, he began to run. He cut straight across the main street and into the alley from which he had first emerged. The soldiers’ footsteps quickened. In the mist, they could only chase by sound.
After the man’s footsteps ceased, the sound of a carriage was heard shortly after. The soldiers immediately gave chase. Though the carriage could not gain much speed in the narrow alley, it was difficult for men on foot to pursue it. The carriage seemed always within grasp yet always beyond reach as it led the soldiers away and vanished.
Once the sound of the carriage’s bells faded, the man emerged from a house at the corner of the intersection where he had first descended from the carriage. The original carriage awaited there. After he loaded the figure he carried and climbed aboard, the carriage disappeared in the opposite direction from the one that had led the soldiers astray.
The morning mist was just beginning to lift.
Giscard’s hand trembled as he drew back the blanket. His eyes closed involuntarily, then opened again. The Doctor beside him shook his head and exhaled a heavy sigh.
“This is no fate any human should endure…”
That he still drew breath seemed miraculous. Old wounds, left untended, had scarred over, only to be covered anew by dark marks. His skin was mottled with sickly blue and suppurating patches. Most of what clung to the blanket was dried blood.
His face was as pallid as Langie’s corpse, drained of all color. His entire body had wasted away terrifyingly. The bones of his frame were visible beneath the skin. When the blanket was fully removed, his left arm was the most grievous sight. Even to Giscard’s untrained eye, it was clear that the forearm, wrist, and fingers were largely shattered.
His breathing and pulse were severely irregular. After examining him briefly, the Doctor closed his eyes instead of retrieving his instruments and traced intricate hand seals. He was a healing mage—one Giscard had deliberately brought from the Territory.
Giscard stepped back from the bedside, pressing his palm to his forehead as his eyes shut tight. Throughout his years witnessing and enduring countless tragedies, he had striven not to be consumed by personal rage or vengeance. Yet in moments like this, he could not help himself. His eyelids clenched, his jaw grinding, his teeth trembling. How brutally they must have treated him. Torture without a shred of mercy—the destruction of both soul and body—was nothing less than the art of hell itself. It was a skill wrought in sulfurous flame that should never exist under any circumstance, in any moment. How had he endured? Could his body and spirit ever be restored?
“Natangsong.”
As he lifted his head, the man who had carried Langie from Rocang Castle stood before him. It seemed he had been so lost in thought that he had not heard the door open.
“What is it?”
“The Exile Council has sent a Doctor. He waits outside.”
“Ask him to wait a moment. Until the treatment here is complete.”
“Very well. Though I must say, your complexion looks quite poor.”
“How could it be otherwise?”
The Tall Man gazed toward the bed, then quickly turned his head away.
“Beasts… every last one of them.”
The Doctor’s eyes opened as the first incantation concluded, and he resumed examining his patient’s condition. When Giscar approached, the Doctor appeared to be attempting to realign the shape of the broken left hand. But the moment his fingertips made contact, Langie’s body convulsed violently—despite being unconscious.
The Doctor hastily formed a seal again and chanted a calming spell. Only after considerable time did the tremors subside. The Doctor turned to Giscar and shook his head slowly. It would not be easy.
The Tall Man, who had been watching, muttered softly.
“Every joint in that left hand is shattered. No wonder his body reacts this way. How… I cannot even imagine how he endured such agony.”
Giscar could only shake his head. The Tall Man descended to make arrangements. After some time had passed, the Doctor suddenly rose to his feet and gestured urgently to Giscar.
“Come!”
When Giscar approached, he found Langie’s eyes open. He had not anticipated consciousness returning so swiftly. The expressionless face—like that of a corpse—transformed the moment it perceived Giscar.
“…”
His eyes closed briefly, then opened again as his breathing quickened. His chest rose and fell with violent intensity. He attempted to speak, but no sound emerged from his throat—only his lips moved soundlessly. Even Giscar, looking down at him, felt his own throat tighten, rendering speech nearly impossible.
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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