Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 529

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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 299.
Beneath the Almond Tree (42)
Just as Maximian was about to rise, thinking this had gone too far, someone else stood first. At that moment, Leroy had driven Lucian against the wall and forced him to drop his wooden sword. When Lucian saw the wooden blade flying toward him again, he instinctively raised his right arm to shield his face. The wooden sword struck true. A few students screamed.
“….”
Lucian himself made no sound. Yet when he tried to cradle the arm that had shielded his face, everyone saw his expression contort in pain. Maximian, who had risen to his feet, and Joshua both widened their eyes in alarm. It was the moment Leroy lowered his wooden sword, his confidence swelling.
“Why don’t you test your skills against me?”
“Who are you?”
Turning around, Boris stood behind him. Recognizing his opponent, Leroy shook his head with a sneer.
“One is enough. I can’t be bothered to repeat such a tedious affair twice.”
“Surely you cannot claim to understand all the freshmen’s abilities from facing just one opponent?”
“Do you think I’m someone who plays along with whatever you want? Get out of my way!”
“Then I suppose I should judge that Nenyaple’s seniors are cowardly fellows who prefer to flee rather than face worthy opponents, based solely on Senior Leroy’s example?”
He had struck a nerve. Leroy said nothing more, merely swung his sword roughly before taking his stance for the match. Maximian spoke.
“The quiet one finally said something worth hearing.”
The moment Boris grasped the wooden sword, he did not wait. Without bothering with formal stance, he immediately struck his opponent’s blade three times in different directions. Just as the motion seemed to conclude, he had already transitioned to the next stance and delivered a powerful blow to Leroy’s hand. Leroy barely managed to pull his hand back, but he could not evade the force transmitted through the blade itself. The sound of impact echoed across the entire Training Ground.
“This bastard….”
In five breaths, Leroy found himself driven against the same wall that had trapped Lucian. To the untrained eye, the progression might have seemed similar, but the reality was different. Where Lucian had lost the initial momentum and been pushed back, Leroy had been adequately prepared yet could not respond. Every flow he had envisioned in his mind shattered. Inexplicably, each exchange was half a beat or a full beat faster. When skill alone proved insufficient, he attempted to rely on the overwhelming strength he usually wielded so easily against his peers, but that too failed.
Cornered against the wall, Leroy tried to steady his stance and focus on defense, but when the upward strike of Boris’s wooden sword connected, the blade’s tip flew into empty air. In the moment his body opened, Boris’s wooden sword surged toward his chest, striking below his sternum. His waist buckled and a groan escaped him. Then, as Boris struck the inside of his shoulder, a scream tore through the air.
“Aaaahhh!”
Boris looked down at Leroy, who clutched his shoulder, then tossed his wooden sword aside with a cold expression. He followed after Lucian, whom people had already carried outside.
The Academy now had two injured students. One had a fractured right forearm, the other a broken collarbone. Regretting that such an incident had occurred, the Sword Master summoned the students and questioned them, and the truth came to light.
The unwritten rule of the Villa War was that one must not resort to violence against an opponent. Leroy had violated this first. Because he had subtly exploited his position, it could have been dismissed as an accident during class, but most freshmen opposed this claim. What he had done to Lucian was simply too severe for anyone to overlook.
Boris had also violated the same unwritten rule, but there were testimonies that he had merely counterattacked. However, the seniors did not view a freshman retaliating on the spot in such a favorable light. Moreover, Leroy’s injuries were more severe.
For now, both Leroy and Boris were placed under confinement. The decision on further punishment would be made after further discussion. The outcome of the Villa War also fell into the hands of the professors. Once violence had erupted, leaving things as they were risked escalating into far more serious incidents.
For the two lying in the Infirmary, Professor Loreldin, the Master of Herbalism, came personally and used healing magic to mend their bones. However, they had to maintain absolute rest for a time and not move the fractured areas. According to the Master’s judgment, Lucian would spend five days in the Infirmary, while Leroy would spend seven.
“The moment Boris called out to that senior, Lucian forgot all about the pain and started giggling. I thought, ‘That bastard’s done for now.'”
For someone bearing such an injury, Lucian seemed to be in good spirits. Maximian wore an expression of exasperation but did not voice it.
Joshua spoke.
“Boris won’t be able to come here. He’s under confinement and can’t leave the Dormitory for a while.”
Lucian’s expression fell.
“I have to stay here for five days. So I won’t see him at all?”
“You won’t see him for five days and you’re dying? You two aren’t even lovers.”
“It’s not that—I didn’t even get to thank him. He got put under confinement because of me.”
“That’s true. Your arm gets broken and he shatters the guy’s collarbone. He’s got quite the temper hidden underneath.”
Maximian had not meant it maliciously, but Lucian felt compelled to defend him.
“Well, it seems Boris has had a lot of bad things happen to him since childhood. Once when we were playing dice together, he was being so cautious that I suggested it wouldn’t be more fun to bet bigger even if we were losing? And do you know what Boris said?”
Joshua found himself leaning in to listen.
“He said that the moment he loses in a game, he always feels like there won’t be a next game. So he can never bring himself to wager everything he has left.”
“Hmm.”
Maximian tilted his head and thought for a moment before shrugging.
“It seems he’s overcome even the brink of death.”
Joshua rose to his feet.
“Then I’ll go pass along your words. Thank you.”
Lucian waved his left hand as he spoke.
“Yeah. Once I’m fully recovered, tell him we should practice swordplay again. Next time, I’ll punish that bastard myself!”
Boris heard a knock at the door. He had been sitting alone in the living room, lost in thought.
He was about to call out for them to enter when he changed his mind. If it was someone from this villa, they would open the door without knocking, and if it wasn’t, he didn’t particularly want to meet them. He remained silent, and the knocking ceased.
After a moment, he heard something scraping against the wall. It suddenly occurred to him that someone from the opposing side of the Villa War might have come to cause trouble. Boris jumped to his feet and opened the door.
No one was outside. Or rather, it appeared that way. In reality, someone was crouched against the wall to the left of the door. It was Joshua, his back against the wall, knees drawn up, his head buried between his arms.
“Joshua?”
The figure lifted his head. It was definitely Joshua. But he showed no sign of recognizing Boris.
“What’s wrong?”
Instead of an answer, strange murmuring spilled out.
“That can’t happen… I won’t do that….”
Joshua stood up. He paid Boris no further attention. Stumbling as he walked, he entered the Acorn Villa through the open door. He crossed the living room. He bumped into a chair but didn’t care. He reached the window. It happened to be open because of smoke from a freshly lit fire.
“Don’t think you can do whatever you want… on your own….”
Joshua gazed out the window. He leaned further out. He tilted forward. His upper body lurched, and his balance broke. Yet he didn’t correct his posture. As if he were about to leap out the window. Or walk out. Either way, this was not a situation to leave alone.
“Joshua!”
Boris, who had been standing in the doorway, rushed in. Joshua’s body was just about to tip over the window’s edge. The sleeve Boris grabbed in haste tore completely from the shoulder. Boris barely managed to seize Joshua’s left arm and wrap around his waist, pulling him back. It was a matter of inches. His response came too late because he hadn’t imagined the situation would become so precarious so easily.
Boris set the Joshua he’d pulled up down on the floor, closed the window and locked it, then closed the door and returned. He sat down in front of Joshua, but the latter’s eyes remained unfocused.
“Why are you doing this?”
There was no answer. Boris asked again after a moment.
“Is it because of the Spirits? Are they tormenting you?”
At those words, Joshua lifted his head and looked into Boris’s eyes. An expression finally appeared on his face.
“There are no Spirits here.”
It was a strange expression, difficult to judge as relief or disappointment. Joshua looked down at the arm Boris had grabbed. Boris looked too. Beneath the torn sleeve, something strange was visible.
“This is….”
It was too severe to be mere scratches from a window frame. It was a horrific mark, as if the skin of living wood—no, a living creature—had been torn away. Even Boris, who was accustomed to much, opened his eyes wide in shock.
“What on earth is this?”
There was no answer. Boris looked at his own hands. Blood mixed with fluid, and something white like butterfly dust was smeared on them. A strange feeling came over him. He had recalled something like this before. A person who crumbled white like plaster… or rather, something that was not a person.
Joshua whispered. His voice was barely audible.
“Where is Maximian…?”
“He’ll be here soon.”
Joshua stood and sat in a chair as if nothing had happened. In that state, he buried his face in his hands and remained still. Boris rose as well and looked down at him. The shadows around his eyes gradually deepened.
“Joshua. Tell me. Where did you get such a wound?”
After a long while, a voice seeped through between his fingers.
“It happened on its own….”
“On its own?”
Then a knock sounded. Joshua’s head snapped up as he cried out.
“Maximian?”
The door burst open at the same moment as the shout.
“Why are you here….”
The words never reached their conclusion. Joshua, who had opened the door, fell silent upon seeing who stood beside Boris. Boris himself forgot speech, his gaze oscillating between the two figures. His eyes deceived him—or so he wished to believe. Yet there they were, unmistakably two people. And yet, two people utterly indistinguishable from one another.
After a moment, Joshua closed the door. He locked it firmly. Then he approached the table.
“Why did you come all the way here?”
The other Joshua answered swiftly.
“I had something to tell Maximian.”
“If you had asked me, I would have summoned him for you.”
“True. Perhaps I would have. But in the end, Makgun would never have come. He couldn’t have.”
Boris spoke up.
“What are you two? Twins?”
Suddenly, the first Joshua sprang to his feet and bolted from the chamber. Joshua moved to chase after him, then quickly shook his head and stopped. The students passing through the corridor could not be allowed to glimpse both of them. He closed the door and returned to Boris, offering him a weary smile.
“Shocked, weren’t you? I’m sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t the issue here.”
“I should clarify—we’re not twins.”
Joshua hesitated, uncertain how best to explain further, when Boris abruptly asked:
“Is he the Doppelgänger?”
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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