Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 77

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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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Chapter 77.
The Island of the Survivors (19)
Zero opened his mouth wide in a silent laugh, then shook his head. His face bore the gentle creases of someone who smiled often.
“No, that boy’s father is Typhlos. I’m simply his close friend. Hehehehe.”
When Zero called the child his “friend,” I recalled Nauplion’s face. Back in Lemme, the two of us had likewise chosen to call ourselves friends.
Not mentor and student, not adult and child, not guardian and the boy he protected.
Oizis and Zero had a far greater age gap than Nauplion and I did. Yet as they stood there with their mouths open in identical laughter, they bore such similar expressions that they truly seemed like friends.
Oizis opened his mouth. But as he began to speak, his eyes darted anxiously about, unable to find a place to rest.
“Sir, there’s something I failed to tell you before.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“To be precise, I hid it. I told you I thought I might come to like Daphnen, but…”
I flinched and looked at Oizis. Yet the boy kept his gaze fixed only on Zero, not turning his eyes toward me. His face bore a certain resolve.
“The truth is, I’ve already betrayed Daphnen’s trust once. I was afraid of the children who hit me and threatened me, so I lied. I made up stories that put Daphnen in a difficult position. If Isolet and Nauplion hadn’t helped me then, Daphnen might have suffered greatly. No, let me be honest. Daphnen had a sword…”
I still carried Winterer with me. Zero’s eyes briefly touched upon the blade before looking away.
“…and so he was about to receive a terrible punishment—three fingers severed. I should have defended Daphnen then. I should have said it was to help me, that the other children were the ones who hit me. I should have clearly stated that he never threatened anyone with a sword, but I couldn’t. I’m truly a coward and worthless. I don’t deserve to call him a friend.”
“…”
Zero listened with his lips firmly pressed together, then reached out and grasped Oizis’s hand. He spoke quietly.
“If this hand were missing three fingers, you wouldn’t be able to lift those heavy books up there, would you? If such a thing happens again, if you can truly reflect on your cowardly act, then cut off those same fingers yourself.”
“…I understand.”
Then Zero turned to me and spoke.
“If such a thing happened, then becoming friends with this boy would be difficult. It seems he brought you here because he wanted to confess his wrongs before me. He’s still tender and foolish, thinking only of lightening his own heart.”
Zero appeared to be a kind man, but his response was far different from what I had anticipated. Adults on the Continent would unconditionally urge children to reconcile and get along, but the islanders were not like that.
“Coming all this way, it seems you’ve done all you can. Oizis must have been happy, at least for a time, knowing such a good child as you.”
I found it difficult to answer easily. Countless thoughts rose and fell like waves.
Cowardice.
Forgiveness.
After a long moment, I spoke.
“I too have had my most cowardly moment. For a long time, I agonized over it even in my dreams, tormented by the knowledge that it could never be undone. Fortunately, this time there was nothing that couldn’t be made right. Perhaps that is the fortune given to Oizis. In that sense, I envy him. Sometimes I think that if only I could undo it, I would give up everything I possess without regret. Though what I have is little enough…”
Oizis was watching me with wide, astonished eyes.
My voice grew quieter, and I returned to the boy I had been in memory, my tone pained. Even to Zero’s ear, it was not a voice typical of a boy my age.
“How then could I fail to forgive someone? That person once told me never to hate anyone to the bone. I believe that unfading grudges and resentments are like lighting a black lamp in one’s life. My life is already dark enough without them. If anything, I need to light a few bright flames.”
Before the specter of that lake, I had abandoned Yefnen and fled. The price my Elder Brother paid with his life for protecting me—I had never forgotten it for a single moment.
“I don’t resent Oizis much. There’s no reason we couldn’t be friends, but neither is there any necessity that we must be. Had I been wiser, I would have turned away from that child being bullied from the start. Since I didn’t, this is simply the consequence that returned to me. I have nothing more to say.”
I rose from my seat. Oizis shrank into himself, unable to even look up at me, his head bowed low.
Zero stood as well and withdrew a book from the shelf behind him, extending it to me.
“Since you’ve come this far, take a book with you. This place was originally the Library of the Island. But few people visit. So I’ve made it something of a principle to give one book to anyone who enters here for the first time. So don’t feel burdened. I hope it proves helpful to you.”
I bowed lightly and accepted the book. I had grown to miss books lately, but more than that, I had no reason to refuse Zero’s sincerity.
“Come visit again.”
Bang—the door closed.

Life at Skoli was far from easy.
On the first day, I took an entrance exam and had an incident with the staff combat instructor. The second day, I spoke with the Headmaster and went looking for Isolet, missing an entire class.
Classes began in earnest from the third day onward, but I felt despair from the very start.
It wasn’t because the material was difficult. If anything, the lessons were far too simple.
The children’s level was abysmal, and most of them squandered class time with their attention elsewhere. During breaks, they were consumed with chatter about who excelled at staff combat and who had defeated whom. Nothing else occupied their minds.
Only a handful showed interest in magic lessons, and those children seemed intent on pursuing that path after graduation. The others had no interest in it whatsoever.
The real problem was that I couldn’t participate in their conversations.
Before my confrontation with Hector during staff combat, some children had shown curiosity and approached me. But after that incident, every single child treated me with complete indifference.
It wasn’t mockery or ridicule. They behaved like jackals deliberately avoiding a lion.
They avoided coming near me, and whenever they were talking amongst themselves, they would scatter the moment I drew close. Or they would cast overtly hostile glances my way.
One child had the audacity to blurt it out: “That demon from the Continent.”
It was obvious that the children’s changed attitude was related to Hector. But whether he had ordered them to act this way or whether they were simply cowering of their own accord remained unclear.
There was one exception: Liriope. However, despite her young age, she progressed through her studies so rapidly that our class schedules overlapped in only one lesson.
And even she refrained from speaking to me or approaching me freely when many other children were around.
Though I didn’t know the reason, the children seemed eager to please Liriope. Yet Liriope herself was aware that being friendly toward me would invite the other children’s resentment.
It was the day after Oizis and I had visited the Library. From that day on, Oizis began attending school as well.
But Oizis’s situation was no better than mine. In fact, it was worse. Children would jostle him as they crossed the classroom, and Oizis could only lower his head without a word of protest.
Lunch was eaten at school. In a spacious hall that served simultaneously as a dining area, assembly hall, and place of prayer, meals prepared by the villagers in rotation were distributed to the children.
That day’s meal consisted of green bean soup, oat bread, goat’s milk cheese, and a cup of water.
I received my food bowl and sat at a table off to one side. With many children and few tables, each table had four chairs, though even that wasn’t enough.
Yet not a single child wanted to sit at my table. Even those standing and waiting for a seat would only glance at me furtively; no one dared approach. Liriope was nowhere to be seen that day.
I had already decided not to concern myself with it any longer. So I quietly bit into my oat bread and began observing the restless children instead.
“Um, would it be alright if I sat here?”
I looked up in surprise from dipping my oat bread into my soup. Someone was actually speaking to me? Actually approaching me?
Oizis stood before me holding his soup bowl, offering a slightly shy smile.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Oizis’s face brightened as he pulled over a chair and sat across from me. I felt the eyes of countless children fix upon us.
“The bean soup tastes bad, doesn’t it?”
The soup was certainly bland. It was only a pale greenish color, and the beans had vanished almost entirely—barely half a piece was visible.
“It does.”
“When Erato’s mother visits, the food tastes good. She’ll probably come tomorrow.”
“I see.”
Despite the trivial nature of our exchange, I felt my mood lift considerably, and I found it amusing. Enduring the hostile gazes of my peer group was proving harder than I had anticipated.
Even for someone like me, who had long been cast into a harsh world, deceived and hunted.
At that moment, the murmur of the children suddenly died down.
“Oh, it’s Hector.”
“Hector’s here.”
Hector, his younger brother Ekion, and five other boys from their group entered the dining hall all at once. It seemed the upper-class staff combat lesson had just ended.
Simultaneously, countless eyes turned toward Oizis and me.
Hector glanced over but said nothing, though Ekion cried out as if he’d caught us red-handed.
“What is that? Two idiots with no one to play with, huddling together?”
His gang laughed in agreement. Hector’s expression darkened as he walked toward the adults distributing food.
But Ekion came forward to their table, still holding the staff he’d used in staff combat training.
“Hey, you coward ground squirrel.”
The staff jabbed at Oizis’s ribs. Oizis flinched and set down his spoon, but he didn’t look at Daphnen.
“Hey, get up! Why are you eating with that guy? Who told you to do that?”
Other boys behind them began to chime in.
“Get up! Get up, you bastard!”
“How dare you sit here without permission….”
“Ground squirrel, do you want another beating?”
Oizis’s arm trembled visibly. Yet with what seemed like firm resolve, he clenched his lips and didn’t budge.
The staffs multiplied to three. Now they weren’t just jabbing—they were striking his head and making slashing motions at his neck.
“Won’t you listen, you bastard?”
“Ground squirrel, if you keep resisting like this, we’ll make sure you never get up from there.”
When Daphnen finally lifted his head, unable to bear it any longer, Oizis spoke in a trembling but resolute voice.
“I have the right to eat lunch with someone I like. Please just leave me alone.”
Those words truly enraged the boys.
“Drag him out!”
“Throw him on the ground!”
“How dare you talk back, you crazy bastard! You’re dead today! We’ll stomp you to death!”
Among the boys were some who had beaten and fled from Daphnen when he was ‘someone they didn’t know’. But this time, with such strong reinforcements at their backs, they showed no hesitation whatsoever.
As the boys tried to drag Oizis from his chair, Daphnen spoke.
“Stop.”

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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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