Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 98

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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 98.
Blood That Won’t Fade (11)
Isolet taught me in sequence: “I promise you,” “Come here,” “Bring it,” “Wait for me”—phrases like these. After I’d been happily repeating them for a while, I suddenly asked.
“But Isolet, this content doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Origin Island.”
“Well….”
Isolet fell silent for a moment. After a long pause, the answer came.
“It was a signal between Father and me. There was a time when I suffered terribly from an eye ailment—I could barely speak at all. The pain was so intense that I became irritable. Father was teaching me chants at the time, but since I couldn’t sing them myself to drive the illness away, he suggested we sing with our hands instead. He devised it in a single day and taught me everything. Originally it was far more complex with a much larger vocabulary, but I’ve forgotten most of it.”
Daphnen nodded and spoke.
“Think it through slowly and teach me all of it. It seems interesting.”
I couldn’t tell what expression Isolet wore inside. She only said this:
“If you remember. The more we talk, the more I might recall.”
The night deepened, and finally began to fade. We who had talked without pause grew gradually weary. When it seemed there was still an hour before sunrise, Isolet finally spoke.
“Now I’m finally getting sleepy. It would be good to rest my eyes for a bit.”
“Yes, so we don’t stumble on the way back and make it safely.”
We both burst into warm laughter at the same time. The fact that we couldn’t see each other’s faces made us feel more at ease with one another.
“Sleep well.”
“You too. Sleep well.”
Silence fell. After a long time had passed, a small murmur escaped from the young boy’s lips.
“It was a strange night. For both of us.”
The sleeping girl gave no answer.
The wind blew.
Within the shell of the dream lay a labyrinth.
It was afternoon.
Perhaps because I’d slept deeply until late morning, the journey back wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared. The two of us descended the mountain with light steps. And we went first to Isolet’s House at the foot of the mountain.
“The Priesthood must have been worried since you didn’t return all night.”
“Yes, probably….”
Isolet’s voice trailed off slightly. Something kept nagging at me. Though I’d had a pleasant dream, it didn’t end there.
After watching Isolet enter through the door, I came down the slope alone.
Looking up at the sun, it was already past the time when Skoli would have ended. I felt a vague sense that I’d done something I don’t usually do, and I clicked my tongue softly.
Thinking of Nauplion’s worried face, I felt a pang of guilt.
If he’s angry, I’ll apologize.
When I turned the last corner on my way home, an unexpected figure appeared before me. As if she’d been waiting, Liriope stood there with a knowing expression.
“Ah… how did you…?”
Standing in front of my own house, and seemingly having waited there for quite some time, there was no need to ask whom she’d come to see.
It was Liriope, whom I’d seen at Skoli just yesterday, yet she seemed strangely unfamiliar. Or rather, it felt as though my own eyes, looking at her, had changed from before.
It was a clear afternoon alley bathed in sunlight.
“Where have you been?”
Liriope’s face was on the verge of bristling, but her voice remained composed. Guessing that she was asking because I hadn’t gone to Skoli, I answered simply.
“Just a walk.”
“All night long?”
How did she know I didn’t come back last night? Surely everyone on The Island doesn’t know about it?
“….”
I didn’t know how to respond. I hadn’t thought I owed Liriope an explanation. Yet when I tried to speak the truth, something inexplicably weighed on my mind.
“Why can’t you answer?”
“Must I answer?”
“Yes. People who’ve done something wrong usually answer that way.”
Liriope turned her head sharply as if unwilling to spare me another glance, then hurried away down the alley Daphnen had just come from.
My unease deepened. I opened the door and stepped inside.
The house was empty. As expected. Nauplion wasn’t the sort of man to idle away his afternoons at home.
I settled into a chair and surveyed the familiar interior. An uncomfortable sensation still lingered in the corner of my chest, growing more pronounced now that I’d entered. It was as though some oppressive presence permeated the very air of the house.
Unable to find peace, I abruptly rose and went back outside.
After a moment’s deliberation, I turned my steps toward the Town Hall. I thought I’d seek out Priestess Despoina and ask her about the Winterer.
The courtyard before the Town Hall was unusually crowded.
“Hey there, look who’s shown up—Daphnen!”
There was no boy my age on The Island who would greet me in such a tone. Oizis would never speak that way.
“Well, well, finally arrived? I trust you’ve had your fill of entertainment?”
Entertainment?
Five or six boys clustered in the courtyard, whispering among themselves. The first to shout was Pikus, one of Ekion’s gang. The second to speak was Ekion himself. Hector was nowhere to be seen.
I approached and asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“What? We’re just trying to encourage you. Why the grim face? Are you afraid to speak?”
Ekion rolled up the loose sleeves of his tunic and smirked, his two canine teeth jutting out conspicuously between his otherwise even teeth.
I stopped walking.
“If you’re just going to spout nonsense, I’m leaving.”
“Ah, whether you stay or go doesn’t really matter. But it’s truly remarkable, isn’t it? Only someone from the Continent could dream up such a scheme. We island natives—what would we know of such things?”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Without thinking, my hand moved toward my waist before stopping. They were clearly mocking me, yet I couldn’t discern exactly what they were accusing me of. And of course, I had no sword.
A boy named Likos stepped forward and spoke harshly.
“You’re stirring up quite the unprecedented scandal, aren’t you?”
I replied coldly.
“Say it once more clearly, and explain yourself properly.”
Unlike the others, Likos looked as though he despised me. The words finally burst from his mouth.
“Word’s spread everywhere. That you’ve been making moves on your teacher while receiving instruction.”
Thwack!
In the blink of an eye, Likos’s body tumbled across the stone ground. I hadn’t even realized when I’d thrown the punch. Everything had happened in an instant.
The next moment, a powerful hand seized my shoulder and wrenched me around. As my body turned, a fist flew toward my face.
Crack!
The blow caught my left jaw, and as I staggered, trying to regain my footing, another fist drove into my lower abdomen.
I reflexively twisted away and grabbed my attacker’s wrist, but my stance was poor and I only caught half of it.
“…Arrogant bastard.”
A low voice reached my ears. It was Hector.
Daphnen stepped back and glared at him. Other boys had already surrounded us in a circle.
Hector lowered his fist and shot me a cold stare. His face was genuinely furious. With that same gaze, he swept across the other boys, silencing them all at once.
Daphnen extended my right palm open, then slowly clenched it into a fist as I spoke.
“If you won’t tell me what your business is, I’ll return what just happened.”
“You don’t know?”
A roar burst from Hector’s mouth.
“How dare you sully the name of someone you shouldn’t even dare touch!”
Suddenly, a cool and burning sensation surged up from below the back of my head, through my neck and into my skull. Finally, I grasped the entire situation.
But it was an unacceptable turn of events. Daphnen barely suppressed my breath as I spoke.
“…Don’t speak carelessly. Not before it becomes irreversible.”
“Do you even realize what kind of person you’ve dragged into your filthy rumors? That person is like a sacred princess to us islanders. Even the priests don’t treat her carelessly—all her virtues, all her names, all her nobility were never meant for a lowborn wretch like you! No one should ever lay a hand on her! If you want to play around in filth, go ahead and do it alone, but don’t you dare lay even a fingertip on her, you filthy creature from the Continent!”
There was no need for further words. The two of us lunged at each other almost simultaneously, toppling one another and rolling across the ground.
Savage punches were exchanged and clothing was torn. The surrounding boys scrambled backward.
Hector, two years older than Daphnen, had a larger frame and greater strength, so he quickly pinned me down and sat on my legs. But with my elastic body, I thrust my torso up in an instant and pushed down on Hector’s shoulders. However, with my legs pinned, I couldn’t dominate my opponent freely either.
Ekion paced nervously around us. Part of me wanted to help my Elder Brother, but his pride would never allow it. The other boys felt the same way.
“Hit him! Pin him down!”
“Smash that demon from the Continent!”
Daphnen was thrown to the ground again, losing the strength contest. But this time, while taking one of his opponent’s punches, I twisted my left leg and hooked Hector’s leg outward, pulling it. Simultaneously, I raised my right knee and pushed hard against him.
“Ugh!”
Hector’s punch was no ordinary blow, but it had its effect. In an instant, the tide turned, and Daphnen was now on top, pinning Hector down.
Daphnen avoided repeating the same mistake and straddled his opponent’s stomach rather than his legs, landing two punches. Hector’s lips split open and blood streamed down. Of course, Daphnen had been bleeding for quite some time as well.
“If you say something like that one more time…”
Hector thrashed his hands, trying to grab Daphnen’s collar. Then my hand came forward, gripping his throat and squeezing hard.
“Gasp…”
This was no joke. My vision immediately began to spin. The moment I thought I couldn’t breathe at all, I caught a glimpse of my opponent’s face through the disheveled hair. And I was shocked.
His face had gone rigid as stone. The voice that followed was completely different from the heated tone of moments before.
A cold voice that even adults rarely managed to produce spoke.
“I challenge you to a formal duel.”
The moment those words left my lips, Yefnen’s image appeared vividly in Daphnen’s mind.
The scenes from that day flashed across my retinas. The Small Village, the soup with insects, those who had insulted us, and finally, the single word he had spoken after accepting it all.
I formally challenge you to a duel.
My hand released. As the image blurred, a strong hand came forward and grabbed me by the back of the neck, lifting me up.
A familiar voice reached me from behind. It was quiet in tone.
“Fighting in front of the Town Hall? Neither of you seem to know the meaning of propriety.”
The moment I heard Nauplion’s voice, the boy felt a sudden confusion. The image of Yefnen that had just come to mind suddenly overlapped with Nauplion’s shadow.
They were different people. Yet the fact that they were different people felt strangely unfamiliar.
Nauplion set Daphnen down and then extended his hand to Hector.
Hector hesitated briefly before taking that hand and rising to his feet. The moment he stood, a rough cough burst from his throat.
“I’m not one of those people who says children shouldn’t fight. But take your fights somewhere others won’t see.”
With those words, Nauplion gave Daphnen’s shoulder a light tap.
“Look at the state of you. We’ll need to apply some salve to that. Since we’re at it, let’s go see Morphe Priest. He mentioned wanting to see you.”
It was his usual tone of jest, yet something felt different about it. Daphnen hesitated, then turned to meet Nauplion’s gaze. He wondered if the faint sorrow he glimpsed in those eyes was merely his imagination.

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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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