Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 545

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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 315.
Beneath the Almond Tree (58)
15. Evening at the Villa
The light of absinthe
More than that, a shimmering green
Within my heart
A southern fish that flicks its tail once
And darts away
“Summoning a wish mirror isn’t particularly difficult.”
Anarose sat beside the stone anchor. Joshua replied.
“The difficult part is getting it outside.”
Anarose nodded. Just as Kelsniti had been unable to enter before, this place was a barrier that spirits could not penetrate. Therefore, if they were to create a wish mirror for them, it would have to be taken outside.
But Anarose could not leave this place. Only her power kept the Instrument of Malice, the bleeding spear, bound here. The seal that had been broken by a fragment of the spear last time had been restored by her strength alone. If she were to leave even for a moment, the power of the Instrument of Malice would become a calamity no one could control.
“So I’ve been thinking about it.”
Joshua pulled out a sheet of musical notation and handed it to Maximian. Maximian sighed and took out his violin.
Anarose recognized it immediately.
“That’s a violin for playing the Sacred Chant Tradition.”
“Yes. Please listen to this piece once.”
The hesitant strings eventually produced a melody. Sliding several times, long notes, short notes, then long again. While Maximian played the violin, Anarose kept her eyes closed. Soon the performance ended.
“There’s no way to know if it will work.”
Maximian lowered the violin from his shoulder, sighed, and wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. He had never played with such tension before. After a moment, Anarose opened her eyes and spoke.
“It’s true.”
“Does that mean… it works?”
When Anarose nodded, Maximian’s expression became both pleased and bewildered.
“Damn it, she says it works but I can’t believe it.”
The piece Maximian played on the Capriccio violin was a Sacred Chant with the power to repeat a short span of time. It was the very piece that had been found in the musical score brought back from the Ghost Ship. The plan was to play this piece continuously to make time in this place repeat for a while.
Joshua was the first to conceive the idea that if time could be stopped, the seal could be preserved even while Anarose left the barrier. It was an inspiration that came to him while thinking about why such things had happened on the Ghost Ship and at the Hometown Tavern that they had encountered off Sunset Island before.
“When Makgun said that just because he did something bad doesn’t mean everyone would experience such things, I kept thinking about it. From their story, the only part with enough magical power was the chant score. The clown Klang, who hid the score, had remarkable singing ability. He must have recognized its excellence because he had such skill to covet the score.”
“So, he sang a chant with some special effect, and that’s why the Ghost Ship ended up like that?”
“I don’t know who sang it, or perhaps the power inherent in the score itself is manifested even without singing. In any case, I became convinced that among these scores, there must surely be a piece with the power to stop time or make time repeat.”
The effect of that piece was confirmed thanks to the two measures Professor Leomentiis had given. After that, thanks to the note Boris touched, Joshua, who had partially grasped the regularity of the chant, had organized the piece he had previously laid out in about a hundred variations into exactly five pieces. And one of them matched.
Anarose herself did not know much about the origin or limits of the Sacred Chant Tradition. She only said this.
“Since chants are originally the power of Origin, it’s not set that any particular piece necessarily has any particular effect. It depends on what origin you invoke, how desperately you desire it, and how effectively you express it. However, this piece you brought seems to have a somewhat fixed effect because it was created for a specific instrument.”
The only problem was that the time the chant repeated was very short. Maximian, who found himself having to stay alone in the barrier and repeat the performance, muttered in frustration.
“Your good ideas, Joshua, somehow always lead to conclusions that exhaust me, and I honestly don’t understand why.”
Joshua laughed and said.
“That violin is quite expensive.”
“It is. Incredibly so. I wish the magic that Professor Leomentiis used on Cardi’s barrier would work here.”
“If we could have blocked the Instrument of Malice that way, Anarose wouldn’t have needed to guard this place from the beginning.”
Before leaving, Riche had carefully mended Anarose’s clothes. Soon Anarose rose and went before the stone anchor, speaking.
“The Wish Mirror’s cornerstone can be summoned by anyone as long as the stone itself holds power—even without knowing a shred of magic.”
“There used to be a cornerstone in Periwinkle, didn’t there? Did that stone also lose its power?”
“It was sleeping.”
When Anarose placed her hand upon the anchor, soft light bloomed around it. The radiance flowed across the stone’s surface and seeped deep into the earth. Joshua hesitated before asking.
“Isn’t that Icabon’s coffin?”
“It is.”
The ground began to resonate. Anarose swept her hand, signaling the group to retreat. Soon the earth flowed like waves, parting left and right. The stone slab buried beneath and the bas-relief carvings upon it became starkly visible. Moments later, it began to rise. From the churning soil, an enormous stone coffin—or perhaps something closer to a boulder—was being extracted. It was a sight that defied belief.
“What on earth….”
The question never reached its end. What had appeared to be a stone coffin gradually transformed into something that resembled actual rock the lower it rose, or perhaps a pedestal supporting something vast. Once it had climbed higher than their heads, its true form revealed itself: an anchor at the very top, a coffin in the middle, and a pedestal beneath. Red earth and gravel cascaded down from all sides.
Joshua, who had been gazing upward, trembled as he spoke moments later.
“Is this… the cornerstone of the Wish Mirror itself? Not a coffin?”
“It’s both.”
Anarose turned and pointed to one side. The trees there parted smoothly left and right. The enormous cornerstone, suspended in midair, passed through the newly created passage. Anarose followed in its wake. Joshua turned to look at Maximian.
“I’m counting on you, Maximian.”
Maximian picked up his violin and steeled himself as he replied.
“Yeah. You damned thing. I’ll show you what grit looks like.”
After Joshua and Riche followed Anarose, Maximian, left alone, suddenly turned to look back. Despite this momentous event unfolding, not a single tree had fallen or snapped—the forest remained serene. Only an enormous chasm remained where the pedestal-coffin had been extracted. Maximian settled himself at the edge of the hole and began to play his violin slowly, yet with meticulous care.
“So it was you who took the cornerstone that was said to be in Periwinkle.”
Anarose nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“It was something Icabon and Kelce promised when they first came to find me. Since no one but I could awaken it, there was nothing strange about me taking it.”
The forest had an end. Though it seemed they searched endlessly, they soon found themselves standing at the forest’s edge, looking down a sloping hill. Without even the appearance of uttering an incantation, Anarose moved her hand, sending the cornerstone down the hillside. The sight of that massive, weighty thing descending soundlessly onto the Grassland was both nerve-wracking and strange.
Anarose took a single step down the hillside.
“Ah….”
She drew in a breath of wind. The light was dazzling. When I closed my eyes, the entire world danced at my ears. Every fiber of my being, down to each strand of hair, felt reborn. This impossibly new world was once my Homeland. The colossal pressure that had weighed upon me for centuries vanished like a dream.
The grass at my feet did not bow to my will. Clouds moved like riddles, and the sun did not set before its time. A world I did not create is natural. It is rough and vivid and willful. Beautiful enough to throw oneself into entirely.
Upon reaching the cornerstone, Anarose sat upon the stone. Joshua approached and sat across from her, then spoke.
“I heard you once had a daughter.”
Anarose nodded with her eyes closed.
“Do you know Zenobia, her daughter?”
“I heard Icabon sketched that child’s face. Since he didn’t dare draw mine, he said he would at least draw hers instead.”
Joshua was momentarily startled, but soon understood the situation. He had realized where the face of Zenobia, the girl said to be simple-minded, was depicted.
“Zenobia’s portrait is still in the Grand Hall of Jade Ring Castle. Now that I think about it, it seems Kelce knew early on that the girl in that painting was Zenobia.”
Anarose opened her eyes and looked at Joshua.
“Still?”
“Yes. My sister resembled the Zenobia in that painting.”
“That girl was simple-minded.”
Joshua nodded and gazed toward the hilltop.
“So was my sister.”
Two human silhouettes appeared at the crest of the hill. As they began to descend, Joshua rose and gestured. Then he turned back to Anarose.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so I brought someone I wanted you to meet.”
One of them was Hispanie. He was holding the hand of a young girl. Anarose rose to her feet, her fingertips trembling faintly as she gazed upon the child’s face.
As they reached the foundation stone, Hispanie bowed silently and released the girl’s hand. The young girl with blonde hair fading to white approached and looked up at Anarose. Neither knew who had reached out first, but when the girl grasped Anarose’s hand tightly, another hand came forward and overlapped with theirs.
“What is your name?”
“Aurelie Tikarum.”
Aurelie did not speak the name Loer Tikarum. That was a sorrowful name born after leaving Sunset Island. Anarose reached out and gently stroked the girl’s hair.
“Your hair has turned white.”
“Zenobia’s did the same, didn’t it?”
“Yes. It happened gradually.”
The two sat side by side upon the foundation stone. Joshua stepped back and approached Hispanie. Hispanie smiled.
“I took the child around Sunset Island. It was her first time coming here.”
The others withdrew, and only the two spoke in hushed tones—like a mother and young daughter, though they bore no resemblance, their presence carried a similar air. When Riche approached and asked who she was, Joshua explained quietly. Riche turned back to look again, then murmured in astonishment.
“Then you share distant blood. Now that you mention it, I can see a slight resemblance.”
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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