Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 538

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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 308.
Beneath the Almond Tree (51)
The Tall Man chuckled quietly after a moment, his shoulders shaking with suppressed mirth.
“Young Duke, you’re quite an entertaining fellow. Allow me to explain.”
He turned to face them, his gaze sweeping across the group before he continued.
“Everyone has priorities in their hearts, you see. For me, the fact that I’m a hired hand is paramount. When someone pays me, the method I pursue—whether it’s an art or a game—becomes my passion. But if they don’t pay? Then it’s all meaningless. Why bother? It simply ends. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Joshua smiled after a brief pause.
“I understand perfectly. So we’re quite different in our approaches.”
“Of course we are. A nobleman raised in privilege and someone like me, who takes sustenance seriously, are bound to differ. Ah, there’s one more reason.”
The eyes beneath the hat swept across Joshua with deliberate scrutiny.
“Duke Joshua von Arnim. Many have wanted to kill you, haven’t they? And likely many more will in the future. But you’re no easy target. I failed, after all.”
“And?”
“The likelihood that someone else will want you dead is quite high, wouldn’t you say? In other words, potential clients might very well commission me. If I were to kill you now without such a commission, who would pay me for it?”
Joshua nodded, as though thoroughly convinced.
“One must preserve prey for the winter ahead. Well then, is my explanation sufficient? Live well. Until we meet again. And do be careful not to fall prey to that strange fellow lurking in the Academy.”
I had no choice but to ask.
“A strange fellow?”
“There’s one about. Those in the same profession recognize each other at a glance. I don’t know his purpose. Perhaps he has nothing to do with you. But it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. I’d hate to lose such a valuable prize to someone like that.”
The Tall Man turned away, raising one hand behind his back and waving it twice. Then, treading upon several points along the cliff face, he ascended onto the Rocky Outcrop. Joshua took a step forward, lifting his head as though more words remained unspoken. The others, already weary of the conversation, made no further attempt to stop him.
“What if I were to hire you instead?”
“Not a bad proposition. Do you have someone who needs killing?”
Joshua tilted his head thoughtfully, then smiled.
“Not at the moment.”
“Then it’s useless. I’m not hired as a gardener or a cook. Bring me work, and we’ll talk.”
In the next instant, his cloak billowed, and the Tall Man vanished. It was as though he had soared away into the Mountain itself. Tichiel murmured shortly after.
“Joshua, I finally understand what everyone meant about your mind being strange.”
Maximian furrowed his brow and spoke.
“Yes, did you see? My thoughts weren’t the only ones, were they?”
Even Boris said something.
“That was quite an unusual conversation to have with an assassin who was trying to kill you.”
Joshua laughed and shook his head, offering an unexpected retort.
“Did we seem too close? We weren’t. Despite appearances, there’s much I owe him. So I confirmed a few things. There was no danger. I know him well.”
Maximian immediately shot back.
“You’re awfully confident. Is your life a joke to you?”
Joshua smiled broadly.
“Trust me a little. We’ve crossed paths enough times that I can make that judgment. Of course, if I had the power to kill him right now, I wouldn’t have let him go. But I don’t, do I? So I can only be grateful the contract has ended.”
Maximian, his expression still stern, glanced at Joshua and asked.
“Are you serious about what you just said?”
“Why would you think otherwise?”
Their eyes met. Joshua gazed at Maximian calmly, then raised his right hand to touch his own neck, offering a smile quite unlike his usual demeanor—one brimming with quiet confidence.
After a moment, Maximian turned his head and spoke.
“No, never mind.”
That evening, the four of us had barely set foot through the Academy’s main gate upon our return when we were intercepted by teaching assistants sent by the Magic Masters. We were immediately ordered to keep silent about what had transpired that day. Because fragments of a cursed artifact were involved and the matter was grave, an emergency faculty meeting was convened despite the late hour.
As a result, the four of us found ourselves sitting in the elegant Reception Room of the Lewis Tintagel Building, where the professors’ studies and laboratories were housed, waiting for the meeting to conclude well past eight in the evening. Individual interviews were to follow immediately after, but that wasn’t the only reason. Until those interviews, we were essentially under detention. After waiting roughly half an hour and realizing this fact, we protested that we hadn’t eaten dinner yet. Naturally, Maximian led the protest.
In truth, we hadn’t eaten anything since a late breakfast. After fighting an exhausting battle in that state, drenched in the downpour Tichiel had conjured across the entire area, and climbing the Mountain back to the Academy over two hours, we should have been famished enough to collapse. Yet strangely, none of us had any appetite. Joshua, still affected by the aftereffects of the spirit magic, felt drowsy but made an effort to stay alert as he spoke.
“I’m truly sorry you’ve all suffered because of me, and now you can’t even rest.”
Tichiel, who had been undoing her braided hair, quickly shook her head.
“This isn’t because of you. We need to be examined to check if any traces of malevolent magic remain from contact with the cursed artifact fragments. Once the examination is complete, they’ll let us go.”
“But that itself happened because of me. Anyway, I’m truly grateful to all of you.”
Tichiel laughed awkwardly, and Boris tilted his head before his shoulders gave a slight shrug. Maximian spoke.
“I feel like I’m hearing this kind of thing from you for the first time in my entire life.”
Joshua then narrowed his eyes with a smile and replied.
“That can’t be right. Think about it carefully.”
Even if my memory failed me, it was difficult to argue when the other person was Joshua. Maximian frowned with just one eye and said.
“You’re making good use of your notorious reputation right now, aren’t you?”
“Well, I’m not sure if you’d call it ‘using’ it….”
We all lacked appetite for the same reason, but no one wanted to bring it up. Fortunately, we had a good excuse in our anxiety about the faculty meeting’s outcome. They wouldn’t punish us for saving a life, but this incident had made it clear that these troublesome new students possessed the capability to cause dangerously reckless accidents. What if they expelled us all as a group?
Maximian, who hadn’t been at the Academy for even ten days and had never planned to enroll in the first place, wasn’t particularly concerned about expulsion, but he still considered the positions of the other two as he spoke.
“Hey, can’t the Young Duke prevent something like that? This whole mess happened because we were trying to save you.”
“I’ve heard that the Mages don’t place much significance on the Duke’s House. Wouldn’t the Juspian Family be more meaningful?”
Maximian raised his eyebrows and glanced sideways at Tichiel.
“Is that so? I have a feeling the Vineyard Keeper’s opinion would be quite different.”
“Still, she’s a Grand Mage and a Nenyaple graduate, so maybe she has an old friend or two….”
At this point, it was unclear who was underestimating whom more, but Maximian waved his hand dismissively.
“Anyway, it’s clear that the Lipkne Family has no significance. Hey, does the Jineman Family have anyone useful? Some distinguished ancestor who perhaps served as a teaching assistant at Nenyaple back in the day?”
Boris shook his head with his characteristic expressionless face.
“No.”
“So it’s just ancestors like you who wielded swords? Right, I suppose we have no choice but to abandon connections and rely on our words instead. But if we get expelled, do they refund the entrance fee? We’ve only been here less than ten days—shouldn’t we at least get half back?”
Until then, Tichiel, who had been lost in serious thought, lifted her head and spoke.
“Surely you’re not worried about that….”
Maximian suddenly became serious.
“What do you take me for, saying something like that? But, but wait, your expression really doesn’t look good. You’re not seriously worried that we’ll get expelled, are you?”
“That’s not it….”
According to Tichiel, such a major battle must have taken place that the Magic Masters would certainly have come to inspect the site. Once an inspection was conducted, not even a trivial spell could be hidden. Of course, we had burned half the Meadow and then brought down an early spring rain to remedy it—giving medicine after causing the illness—but since it was an unavoidable situation, I thought they wouldn’t nitpick every single spell. Yet Tichiel seemed to think differently. Unable to bear it, Joshua asked.
“Is there some problem we don’t know about?”
“The Vineyard magic circle. Using that will be detected too.”
Maximian shook his head vigorously as he looked at Tichiel.
“Hey, why are you so fixated on that? Thanks to it, we got there in time and saved this bastard. Is using it once without permission really such a problem?”
“Well…. Actually, that wasn’t created by the Academy. My father made it on his own during his dating days with my mother. If my aunt finds out it still exists, she might get so angry she faints.”
….
Joshua and Maximian both fell silent, for imagining Juspian in love required an excessive amount of imagination. As did picturing Professor Leomentiis unconscious from rage. After a moment, Maximian spoke.
“It’s true that the Professor fainting will cause considerable disruption to the academic schedule, which is certainly worrying, but still, surely it will end with simply dispelling the magical circle, won’t it?”
Before Tichiel could answer, Joshua tilted his head and spoke.
“But now that I think about it, something seems odd. The Academy is protected by Angonina’s Curtain, isn’t it? How did they get through that? Did they disrupt the Academy’s security?”
Tichiel sighed and continued.
“Exactly. That’s precisely it. I’m only telling you this because it’s you, but Angonina’s Curtain does have small gaps. There’s no spell in this world that, once cast, lasts forever. As time passes, it requires maintenance, but since it’s Ganapoli Magic, there was probably no one capable of performing that maintenance. It’s broad and powerful and semi-permanent, but it cannot be repaired. It’s something that cannot be revealed to outsiders, but that’s how it is.”
Maximian furrowed his brow and spoke.
“Could that be why the Puppet Master’s call kept reaching through? I thought it was strange when I heard about it during the day. If the call was reaching through, then orders could potentially get through just as easily going forward, couldn’t they?”
Tichiel nodded.
“That might be right. Anistan had a fragment of the Artifact of Malice, after all. Concentrated mana like that of an Artifact of Malice is like a burning awl—given enough time, it pierces through anything. Perhaps the continued calling actually weakened Angonina’s Curtain further. It’s something the Professors will have to handle, but I’m a bit concerned.”
Joshua had been leaning back against the sofa with his head tilted, but at the mention of the Puppet Master, he suddenly straightened and looked at Boris.
“Boris. There’s one thing I have to ask you about. That person you mentioned earlier.”
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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