Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 76

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 76.
The Island of the Survivors (18)
Daphnen’s attention drifted absently toward the sound drifting through the window—a girl’s simple, humming melody.

Pine cones, pine cones, dangling pine cones,
Following the tree’s shadow, step by step I walk,
Let’s go to the forest, my friend, let’s go to the forest.

“Do you think I could learn something like that?”
“It won’t be easy. If you approach it as a matter of disciplining your mind and learn gradually, perhaps you could manage something.”
That was when the Headmaster spoke.
“But what if… that child doesn’t permit it?”
Nauplion smiled faintly.
“She’s already given her basic consent to the proposal from the Priests of the Orbit, so she’ll have no grounds to refuse. Though I admit I didn’t expect a student to appear quite so quickly.”
Perhaps this would be a different sort of learning—peaceful, unlike swords and blades. No competition required, just solitary, gradual practice.
The song grew distant. The sunlight was beautiful.

Gentle breezes, mountain winds, soft forest winds,
Tart and sweet wild strawberries, the stream flows on,
Let’s go, my friend, let’s go to the forest.

A Grassland sprawled across the mountainside. To the northeast, a cliff rose where a dormant volcano and ice wall converged, while to the west, a steep slope descended sharply.
Three rounded boulders jutting unexpectedly, two fir trees standing to face the south, the rich scent of grass, the round sun at noon suspended overhead.
And only three people. Nauplion, Daphnen, and Isolet.
“…”
Daphnen and Isolet stood in silence for a long moment, simply watching. Nauplion spoke once more.
“Your first student.”
“Your first disciple, isn’t she?”
“That’s a different matter.”
“Is this your decision?”
Among their peers, only she—besides Daphnen—addressed Nauplion with such formality.
Nauplion didn’t answer. Isolet turned sharply, scrutinizing Daphnen, then took a step back. Her posture was distinctly defensive.
Nauplion regarded her with pitying eyes.
“Even if you dislike it, it’s not my place to say anything. I came only to introduce you. But I don’t think you two have only grounds for conflict. Perhaps you share something in common. You both never knew your Mother’s face, and you both lost your Father years ago.”
In that instant, Isolet’s eyes widened, and she spoke with resolve.
“I don’t want to hear such things from you. This is the consequence of a promise I made myself, so I’ll handle it as I see fit. But I have one request.”
Nauplion listened with a somber expression to what came next.
“Disappear from my sight. Right now.”
“…”
Nauplion withdrew in silence, offering Daphnen—who watched him—a dispirited smile before turning and descending the slope.
Between the two remaining people, no words passed for a long time.
Neither of them sat down. When Isolet spoke rudely to Nauplion, anger had surged in that instant. But moments later, recognizing the intense emotion woven through her voice, my heart settled.
It wasn’t because Daphnen was particularly perceptive. In truth, I couldn’t help but notice. Isolet’s emotions mirrored my own.
A love and resentment so hopelessly tangled that they could never be unraveled.
Why was that?
One of them finally spoke after the sun had climbed overhead.
“I can’t understand it.”
Her voice rang slightly higher than usual, but the deep resonance beneath remained unchanged.
“You said the same thing when you first saw me.”
She was the one who had kindly defended me at the Town Hall when I faced an absurd accusation. Back then, too, Isolet had begun with “I don’t understand.”
Isolet walked away without answering, settling onto a rock with a long stride, and drew one leg up.
Seeing her up close, I noticed another feature I hadn’t known before. Her hair. In contrast to the pale blonde cut short to expose her neck and ears, there was a handful of bangs that fell to her chin.
Following a smooth curve and slightly obscuring her right ear, half of those strands were white.
“What are you staring at?”
I gave a bitter smile, thinking this was something I hadn’t expected to hear on the day we first met. But as I smiled, Isolet’s expression became slightly strange.
“Your white hair. I was curious how that could be.”
“It just is. Having two hair colors doesn’t mean I have to endure uncomfortable stares all the time, does it?”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Another brief silence fell. But even with my mouth closed, Isolet’s discomfort was plainly evident, so I couldn’t help but speak again.
“Don’t you want to teach me?”
“It’s not because it’s you.”
It seemed to mean she wouldn’t have welcomed anyone. I spoke hesitantly.
“I didn’t know who I would be learning from either.”
“Are you not thinking of backing out even now?”
In truth, we were far too close in age to be called teacher and student.
I had heard that Isolet would turn seventeen this April. There was roughly a four-year difference between us. Considering that other teachers were at least in their late twenties, it was understandable that she didn’t seem like a proper teacher.
“Then who will teach me the Sacred Chant?”
Isolet reached out and slowly stroked her ankle before responding coldly.
“No one but me.”
“Then there’s no real alternative.”
After a moment, Isolet shook her head and stood up. She shot me a look of anger and spoke.
“Then sing a song for me. A chant is different from a simple song, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t one. Fundamentally, it must be a song for sacred power to dwell within it. I can’t be teaching you basic vocalization from the start.”
In truth, that was an unkind excuse. I fell into thought for a long while, but ultimately I could only say this.
“I don’t have a single song I can sing all the way through.”
“Not even one?”
Isolet stared at the boy in disbelief. Even raised in such a barren environment, not to know a single song. Or rather, how could he have come forward wanting to learn the Sacred Chant when he doesn’t even know one song?
But the boy was serious.
“No. But I can’t very well sing some song about a cute squirrel in front of a teacher who teaches the Sacred Chant, can I?”
A laugh burst out of me before I could help it.
When Daphnen looked at me in bewilderment, I hastily stopped laughing and shook my head as I spoke.
“Don’t call me that. It’s uncomfortable to hear.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“Just use my name.”
“But you’re my teacher, and you’re older than me. I can’t address you that way.”
Isolet spoke flatly, her tone devoid of emotion.
“Why can’t I even choose how I’m addressed? If you don’t like it, don’t call me at all.”
Daphnen closed his mouth, then spoke after a long pause.
“Understood. I’ll just use your name then, Isolet. I’m Daphnen.”
Isolet gave an indifferent nod. It seemed unlikely we would get along easily.

It was four days later when Daphnen encountered the squirrel Oizis again. In the meantime, Oizis had been absent from school, claiming to be ill.
“Um, over here…”
I hadn’t expected him to approach me first. I stopped and turned to look at the small boy.
“Would you…come with me for just a moment? Just a very brief moment? It’s absolutely not dangerous. There won’t be any other children. Please, I’m begging you…I promise, I won’t bother you again.”
Hesitation stirred within me.
Recalling the troublesome situation I’d gotten into the last time I helped Oizis, I wondered if someone was coercing him again. That timid boy was certainly capable of such things.
As I regarded him with suspicion, Oizis’s eyes glistened with tears, and he clasped his hands to his chest.
“I know you don’t trust me because of what happened before. But this time, it’s absolutely not like that. I’d even swear by the Moon Queen’s name. Just this once—please hear my request. There’s a place I really want to go with you.”
At the mention of the Moon Queen, my heart stirred slightly.
That timid boy lacked the malice and audacity to lie using the Moon Queen’s name. He would never have uttered such a name if he intended to deceive someone.
I followed Oizis down the path toward the left of the Three Peaks behind the village.
We climbed for quite some time. When we reached a point where the village spread out below us in full view, a strange sight appeared before my eyes. Oizis stopped, and so did I.
It was the Wooden Tower.
The tower’s very shape was bizarre. It was a narrow cylindrical form that tapered toward the top, resembling a needle. It was quite tall—perhaps six times the height of an adult.
Above a tightly closed wooden door were shuttered windows. But since they were scattered haphazardly without any clear division between floors, it was impossible to discern the internal structure.
Did the tower have windows at ground level, or perhaps between the floors?
Like a sketch carelessly drawn by a child, the tower stood there. Against the backdrop of the blue cliff, it appeared like a hallucination that had materialized in the wrong place.
“What on earth is that?”
Oizis’s face flushed.
“That’s…a safe sanctuary that shelters me. It’s a very happy place.”
Oizis approached and knocked on the door. Receiving no answer, he pushed it open and entered.
The first sensation was darkness. Perhaps it was the contrast from the bright outside.
The first floor was a narrow, circular room—perhaps four or five paces across. A rough mat resembling a carpet covered the floor, and several chairs were arranged about. There was also a fireplace, though unlit.
A ladder stood against one wall, with a hole above it leading to the upper level. When my gaze reached there, a voice suddenly came from above.
“Our little scholar has arrived. Oh? And you’ve brought a friend today?”
Presently, a middle-aged man descended the ladder. He wore something like work clothes with an apron, and a faded cloth wrapped around his head.
Once on the ground, the man quickly removed the cloth from his head and brushed off his hands, then smiled and offered a handshake. His hands were large and soft, though darkened with grime.
“So you’re the first friend Oizis has ever brought here? Pleased to meet you. I’m Zero.”
A grayish-brown beard covered his chin, and it trembled with each word he spoke, dust falling from it. My palm, clasping his hand, quickly became blackened.
“I’m Daphnen.”
“Daphnen? Ah, I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before.”
Oizis chuckled beside me, his face breaking into a grin.
“I mentioned it to you before. That he came from the Continent.”
“Ah!”
Zero suddenly grasped Daphnen’s hands firmly with both of his own, his face brightening with warmth. By now, even his wrists had darkened considerably.
“So you’re that boy. I hear you’ve been kind to this one. I’m truly grateful. This fellow only cares about books and has no idea how to make friends, so I’ve been worried sick. He says you’re the first peer he’s had such a long conversation with.”
Daphnen looked somewhat flustered, glancing toward Oizis.
This man seemed to spend all his time shut away in that peculiar Wooden Tower, utterly oblivious to the outside world. Oizis’s cheeks flushed crimson as he quickly grabbed Zero’s arm.
“P-please stop saying such things, and… could you listen to what I have to say?”
And so the three of them pulled up chairs and sat facing one another. Daphnen was the first to speak.
“Are you Oizis’s father?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————