Ch.189Who Am I? (5)

The human mind is not infinite.

The world allowed humans to transcend physically, but it did not permit the same for the mind.

Countless philosophers call this a blessing. They proclaim that to anguish, hesitate, wander, and ultimately gain enlightenment and grow is a privilege unique to humans. But not all humans can attain enlightenment.

Some lose their way after wandering.

They lose themselves without ever having confidence in themselves.

“Ah, aah, aaaah……”

Here is a transcendent being.

A transcendent who never wanted to transcend. Viola Ordina. Her body reached transcendence, but her mind never did.

Because none of this was what she wanted.

She was simply a modest human who enjoyed playing for others, content to live as long as she could play the piano.

“You have talent.”

“Your name is no longer ■■■■.”

“From today, you will live under the name ‘Viola’ of the Ordina family.”

“Viola Ordina. That is your name.”

But she had talent. Talent that could reach transcendence through sword training. Her talent was so immense that she reached transcendence despite not wanting it.

Grip.

With fingers that should have been pressing piano keys, she gripped a sword, and with ears that should have been listening to musical notes, she heard screams and groans. She swung her sword endlessly.

“Aah……”

She fights against Radon who invaded the kingdom.

In an isolated space untouched by anyone’s gaze, she fought Radon every day. To keep Radon trapped there, she had to wound him and drain his strength.

But dragons are immortal beings. No matter how many wounds she inflicted, after a night, Radon would recover and break out beyond the glass.

“Ah……”

And Viola?

She is not immortal. Her recovery is slow, and injuries accumulate. Her body and mind slowly began to be corrupted by Radon. Slowly, but surely.

1 year, 10 years, 50 years, 67 years.

After 67 years, one day Viola Ordina looked at her hands.

“……”

Her blackened fingers no longer moved as she wished. She could no longer press the piano keys. At that moment, Viola Ordina broke.

Crash, the sound of shattering glass echoed.

Viola Ordina laughed. A strange laugh like fingernails scratching glass resonated throughout the Kingdom of Cassel. Cracks spreading from her began to devour the kingdom.

Crash.

People, buildings, land, sky—everything began to split. She destroyed everything she had protected for 67 years. The Lonely Star isolated herself from herself. What remained was merely an empty shell of a body.

That body was claimed by the dragon that had slowly eaten away at her over the years.

Radon laughed.

“So this.”

Someone was watching.

“So this is what happened.”

Najin watched the Kingdom of Cassel shattering into pieces. Najin and Merlin stood at the only place untouched by the spreading cracks—where a tombstone stood.

Standing there, Najin watched.

So this is what it meant to be destroyed by Radon. Najin remained silent at the sight of Viola tearing apart the kingdom while being devoured by Radon.

Najin witnessed it for the first time.

The sight of a Constellation going mad. The sight of a transcendent being corrupted and transformed. It was different from a Fallen Star. Viola Ordina’s star remained in the sky, but the essence that composed it was changing.

The Reversed Star.

The name for a “transformed star” that the Helm Knight had once mentioned. Najin looked up at the sky. Viola Ordina’s star had flipped and turned black.

Then, crash.

Everything except the area near the tombstone shattered into pieces. Viola Ordina laughed atop the shattered ruins. Najin couldn’t tell how long that laughter continued.

She only heard.

“Again.”

Before she completely became a Reversed Star.

Before being completely devoured by Radon, her final murmur squeezed out.

“Again, from the beginning.”

Da capo, she murmured.

Da capo.

A repeat sign meaning to return to the beginning and play again. What awaited her at the end of her performance was not applause. Only the repeat sign telling her to return to the beginning and play again awaited her.

And.

Time rewound.

2.

When you close your eyes and open them again, everything returns to normal.

The sky is blue. The sunlight shines warmly. People walk the streets, believing without doubt that this daily life will continue forever.

“Did you see the new fish at the market today?”

“It’s huge, and damn expensive. Having such expensive fish for a meal? I can’t even dream of it.”

“Fresh bread! Warm bread just baked! One coin each!”

“Hey, yesterday it was two for one coin!”

“Flour prices went up. What can I do?”

“Hmph, seems like only your flour prices doubled?”

Conversations heard before.

Standing in the middle of the street where citizens passed by, Najin silently looked around. He was standing in exactly the same position as when he first entered the Constellation’s dream.

“We’re back. To the beginning.”

“Indeed.”

Najin’s voice was stiff.

Because the scene he had just witnessed was so shocking. Najin pressed the corner of his eye as he exhaled deeply.

“So this is a Constellation’s dream……”

“Yes, most are like this.”

Merlin said.

“Some Constellations repeat an eternal day, some repeat a specific period, and some repeat their entire life. They’ve given up on moving forward, so they repeat their stories.”

A place for those who have given up on moving forward.

Where everything repeats endlessly.

Najin looked up at the grand temple. There was Viola Ordina, looking at him with the exact same expression, the exact same eyes as when he first saw her.

Soon she turned her gaze away.

But Najin didn’t. While staring at Viola Ordina’s profile, Najin murmured.

“It’s hell.”

“In some cases, yes.”

Merlin had explained. Sometimes Constellations trap themselves in their dreams to punish themselves. And Viola Ordina’s case was likely the same.

She was repeating her final month.

For 560 years, she had been repeating the final month where she lost herself and was devoured by Radon. As if it were a punishment she imposed on herself.

‘In dreams, she can return to the beginning.’

But in reality, she couldn’t.

It wasn’t difficult to guess how this “Cassel” kingdom had met its end.

‘A nation that entrusted everything to one transcendent being, only to be destroyed by that transcendent’s corruption.’

The Kingdom of Cassel was destroyed by Viola Ordina who had been devoured by Radon. What choice did Viola make in her despair at the end? In reality where she couldn’t repeat from the beginning, the choice she likely made was…

“So that’s how the Star’s Tomb was created.”

She probably chose to be buried in this land along with Radon who had possessed her body. She chose to torture herself in an eternal dream. So this wasn’t just Viola Ordina’s tomb.

It was Radon’s tomb as well.

“So?”

Merlin looked at Najin.

“So, what will you do now?”

She simply asked.

“You don’t necessarily have to break this dream. Breaking it won’t be easy, and finding a way won’t be easy either. It might even be dangerous.”

“……”

“If I ask whether the benefits are worth it, not really. The Sacred Relic is good, of course. But you’d be fine without it, right? What you gain doesn’t match the effort. If a Sacred Relic is your goal, it would be better to search another Constellation’s tomb.”

The experience of a Constellation’s tomb and dream—the original purpose—had already been achieved. This was enough experience. Najin had no reason to stay in this dream any longer.

“And yet.”

That’s why Merlin asked.

“Will you try?”

A guide only shows the direction but doesn’t make the choice. Making the choice is entirely up to Najin. Merlin’s transparent eyes stared at Najin.

“……”

Before answering that question, Najin turned around. There stood the tombstone, the entrance to this dream. Najin looked at the inscription on the stone.

‘Who am I?’

No answer was written to that question. No one had answered Viola Ordina’s question. Looking at the tombstone, Najin smiled faintly.

“You know the answer while asking.”

Najin walked with his back to the tombstone. Walking in the opposite direction of the exit from the dream, Najin said.

“Who am I?”

“Haah……”

Merlin sighed deeply. Her eyes asked if he really had to say it, but Najin asked Merlin once more, “Who am I?”

“Yes, the youngest Sword Seeker, youngest 4-star, youngest Free Knight. It’s going to be hammered into my ears. Why?”

“That’s right. I am a Free Knight.”

Free Knight.

Protecting what he believes is right.

A knight who protects knights.

“It’s written on that tombstone.”

“Hero of the Kingdom of Cassel, Viola Ordina.”

“Protected the country from the evil dragon.”

“A knight who fought bravely until the end.”

“She’s a knight, isn’t she? And in my opinion, this dream is problematic. I don’t like the expression that Viola Ordina is wearing either.”

“So?”

“So, I’m going to break it.”

“How?”

“That’s what I need to figure out now.”

Najin collected information while walking around the streets. New information piled on top of what he had gathered before time rewound.

“Are you Mirentz?”

Najin went to find an old woman named Mirentz.

The old woman whose shoulder Viola had grabbed and pleaded with in the final moment. She was Viola Ordina’s younger sister and the only person who knew Viola before she was adopted into the Ordina family.

He listened to her story. He gathered information.

And collected what he needed.

“Merlin?”

There was one last thing he needed, but he didn’t have to look far for it. Najin glanced at Merlin.

“Merlin is a great magician, right? The first to uncover mysteries, the first to reach the realm of ten rings, and a truly great magician with as many as eleven stars.”

Merlin’s ears perked up as she was munching on bread. Her eyebrows arched.

“Go on. It sounds good.”

“For such a great magician, ‘making it rain’ should be a piece of cake, right?”

“You know, do you have any idea how difficult it is to control the climate and create natural phenomena? It’s almost taboo for magicians. It’s truly difficult.”

“So it’s impossible?”

“It is impossible. Usually. But who am I?”

Merlin curled up the corners of her mouth.

“A great magician who makes the impossible possible. As you said, a truly great magician, right?”

With a grin, she stood up. With a truly confident expression.

3.

Merlin stretched her hand toward the sky.

Just as a swordsman needs a sword, a magician typically needs a medium like a staff or artifact, but not Merlin. She called being bound by mediums “third-rate,” and she always considered herself first-rate.

Merlin’s lips moved.

Her fingertips moved.

With each span her fingertips moved forward, a circle appeared, and with each syllable her lips uttered, a ring formed.

Chrrk.

In an instant, six rings appeared at her fingertips. Six rings resonating and rotating. But Merlin didn’t seem satisfied with that. Although six circles was the limit she could handle in her current state, similar to Najin’s level, Merlin didn’t stop there.

“I’ll borrow these for a bit.”

She gestured. The four stars Najin possessed sparkled and then seeped into Merlin’s fingertips. With starlight, Merlin forged circles. Two rings made of platinum light formed on Merlin’s fingertips.

Two platinum rings were added to the six blue rings, completing eight rings.

8 circles, the symbol of an archmage.

With a body that hadn’t even approached transcendence, let alone reached it, Merlin imitated transcendence too easily. If a magician had been present to witness what Merlin had accomplished, they would surely have screamed. Even if that magician were a transcendent being, their reaction wouldn’t be much different.

Because it defied the basics, rules, and principles of magic.

Merlin didn’t bother to explain how nonsensical and amazing what she had done was.

She simply showed it.

Snap.

Merlin snapped her fingers. The eight circles resonated. Blue mana rippled, surged, and shot toward the sky. The moment the droplet she fired reached the sky.

Ripples formed in the clear blue sky.

Like a stone thrown into a calm lake, the sky rippled for a moment.

Swoooooooosh!

Rain began to pour down.

Skipping the entire process of water vapor gathering to form dark clouds and then rain falling from those clouds, Merlin created only the result of “rain falling.”

Rain poured down with enough force to engulf the kingdom.

Swoooosh, the sound of rain erased all other sounds. The bell that should have rung by now was silenced by the rain sound Merlin had created.

“How about that.”

Drenched in the pouring rain, Merlin turned to Najin. Pushing back her hair, wet and flattened by raindrops, Merlin grinned.

“Do I look a bit more magnificent now?”