Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 554

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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 6.
The Noble Daughter and the Detective (6)
It was then that Charlotte spoke.
“I’ll borrow this for a moment.”
She drew the Etoile dagger, secured with leather straps beneath Lorang’s breastplate, and gripping it firmly in both hands, thrust it with all her strength toward the wall. The attempt was absurdly optimistic—to pierce stone with merely a dagger—yet the result was astonishing.
Screeeech!
A peculiar cry echoed through the cavern, and the advancing wall suddenly halted. Lorang stared in disbelief, but without hesitation, he drew his own blade and struck the opposite side. The effect was precisely as expected. Where their daggers pierced the rocky surface, movement ceased entirely, and when they struck again, the wall actually retreated. It writhed like the living flesh of some colossal beast.
In that moment, Lorang grasped what judgment Charlotte had made before striking with her dagger. Just as those creatures of flame had feared the fire, this stone wall too harbored a fear. Though their appearances differed entirely, their essences were fundamentally similar. If that were true, might this wall not also dread a blade imbued with magical power?
The trainees’ swords held no magic, but the Etoile dagger did. Though no special functional enchantment had been granted to it, it had been tempered in the flames of magical power for its symbolic significance. Granted upon appointment to Etoile and carried always as proof of rank, he had scarcely considered it a weapon—yet she had conceived of using it precisely when needed.
Her mind worked remarkably fast.
Had the situation concluded, he would have offered praise, but it was not yet over. Charlotte and Lorang exchanged the briefest of glances before moving almost in unison toward the right side of the entrance, striking at the more distant rocky wall with their respective weapons. Lorang no longer questioned the uncanny synchronization of their movements. Some possessed an innate sense for close combat; training merely refined it further. Having experienced this himself, understanding came easily.
He had complained bitterly about her not going ahead, yet truthfully, had she not been at his side, he would have felt the loss keenly. This level of coordination was scarcely different from what Etoile members achieved together.
Screeeeeech!
The strange cry overlapped this time, echoing in harmony. The wall—if such description were possible—parted left and right like thick damask curtains drawing back, retreating before them. As the original passage became visible through the widening chasm, Lorang wrapped one arm around Charlotte and leaped, tumbling forward as they landed. After rolling once and coming to rest, they looked at each other, then ahead. Lorang squinted one eye and muttered.
“Damn it, my shoulder’s about to shatter….”
Having cradled Charlotte with his left arm while landing hard on his right shoulder, it certainly ached, but his shoulder would not actually break—it was largely theatrics. The training Etoile members endured included far worse. Charlotte rolled to the side, pushed herself up, and spoke.
“Next time, I’ll leap first.”
They rose nearly simultaneously, drew their weapons, and assumed the basic stance from their training—Etoile Position Two. In that posture, Lorang asked.
“Why?”
“I’m good at jumping.”
“Ah, really? You could manage it alone just fine—did I just waste my effort?”
“No. I understand you couldn’t go ahead without me. So from now on, I’ll lead the way.”
“Rather than that, drop this stubborn insistence on being escorted. If you’d followed the others from the start, none of this would have happened.”
Charlotte’s dark brows twitched, and her voice emerged sharp as a blade.
“Why do you keep assigning me tasks since earlier? Etoile aren’t trained that way, are they?”
Lorang likewise furrowed his brow in response.
“And you—stop pretending to know nothing. Being escorted by a noble daughter is far more troublesome than doing the escorting. I’m practically dying from how difficult she is.”
“As you well know, I am not a noble daughter at this moment.”
He thought, as if anyone wouldn’t know that—but an unexpected answer followed.
“However, that is not the essence of the matter. If I possess the ability to execute the mission, it matters not whether I am a noble daughter or a trainee. Rather, I suspect you doubt my capabilities, which is why you act this way. I was taught that Etoile members entering a joint operation must trust their comrades’ abilities.”
Knowing Charlotte’s words were right, Lorang could not respond immediately and bit his lip. If he were doing this out of fear she might make a mistake, out of fear of bearing the responsibility himself, was he not the coward? If he truly believed in her ability to succeed flawlessly, what did it matter whether she was a noble daughter or not—even if he were conducting a joint operation with the Grand Duke himself, what would there be to worry about?
Especially when that comrade was an Etoile member who regarded each other as siblings.
Even a fifteen-year-old trainee as young as a younger sibling, having passed four trials, qualified as a quasi-Etoile member. At that level, joint mission execution was entirely feasible. In other words, she was beyond the stage of being treated as a child.
As if reading Lorang’s thoughts, Charlotte continued.
“So please accept it now. I have both the will and the ability to execute this mission.”
At last, Lorang nodded.
“Very well.”
Trust was a choice one made, and the responsibility for that trust fell upon oneself. If Charlotte wished to be respected as an Etoile member rather than protected as a noble daughter, then he, as a fellow Etoile, should be the first to grant her that respect above all others. Otherwise, why would they be Etoile at all?
Charlotte nodded in turn and continued.
“Thank you. In that regard, my inability to proceed was not solely due to my stubbornness. A fissure appeared three paces ahead where none had existed before, cutting off the path.”
“The path is blocked? What about the other trainees?”
“I’m not sure. I only heard the sound of footsteps faintly. I can’t tell if anyone actually fell.”
“Did you see, Captain? You came out at the end together.”
Charlotte shook her head.
“No.”
Even as I thought Crupard would surely be fine, the fact that we’d emerged almost simultaneously made me wonder—could he have fallen into the crevasse below? A chill ran through me, but I pushed the thought away as my training dictated. Such speculation was pointless now. I glanced at the wall to see if it was moving again before speaking.
“Perhaps it would be better to head outside instead?”
When I’d gotten up earlier, I’d noticed the entrance was still open. At that, Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked at me.
“Are you asking for my opinion?”
When I found myself at a loss for words, Charlotte continued.
“Orders should come from Etoile. My role is simply to protect, whether I live or die doing it, isn’t it?”
And then she smiled—a genuine smile. I was so exasperated I gritted my teeth and shouted.
“That’s quite the burden you’re putting on me!”
With that, I immediately extended my sword to push the rocky wall back and gestured for her to head toward the entrance. Whatever was happening in this cave, it seemed far better to face danger outside than to risk being crushed by these walls at any moment.
That was when something unexpected happened again. The rocky wall that had been pushed back trembled, then suddenly shattered as if exploding.
“What…?”
I thought it was an explosion, but it wasn’t. Had it been, I wouldn’t have survived standing so close. The hundreds of fragments, instead of scattering in all directions, froze in mid-air at a certain distance, as if seized by an invisible force. Then they slowly fell to the ground, adhering to one another and reforming into a new shape—that of a four-legged beast.
Damn it… What exactly are these stones that transform so freely?
Etoile didn’t study magic, but we were taught basic knowledge about it—enough to know what magic could and couldn’t do. From what I knew, controlling inanimate objects on that scale with such freedom would require deploying at least a handful of Mages. So this wasn’t magic, but rather…
Just then, the walls on both sides began moving again. I tensed, thinking they were closing in, but this time they retreated instead, opening up on all sides like folding doors. The narrow corridor we’d been in transformed into a spacious chamber, as vast as a ballroom. But the problem was, in doing so, the passage we’d been trying to escape through was now sealed off by rock.
“What is this?”
Bewildered, I looked around in a way unbecoming of Etoile, examining both sides and above, but nothing had changed from my initial assessment. We were trapped. And worse, we weren’t alone in this space. The stone beasts were here too.
Those creatures, resembling small wild dogs, crouched silently before beginning to encircle us from a distance. In this lightless place, the faint glow they emitted was our only source of illumination.
Charlotte murmured softly.
“We’re buried beneath our own land.”

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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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