Chapter 319

“The New World?”
“Yes. The continent of the East, far beyond the sea. The papers here must be from your country.”
Nabiroze nodded. She explained that the paper that looked like it had been dipped in and out of the outline was a type of magical scroll called an amulet. Upon closer inspection, I could definitely feel the mana draining from it.
“That’s interesting. I’ve never seen that before. Can you read?”
“I don’t know. It’s only been a short time since the war, and we didn’t really start communicating with the New World until after the war.”
“Aha.”
Ronan arched an eyebrow at the interesting information. He’d been busy enough with what was happening inland that he really didn’t know anything about it. His fingers flicked at the sitar.
“But wait, doesn’t that mean this guy traveled across the ocean to the New World?”
“Probably so. I don’t know where it came from, but it must have caused quite a stir there. I’ve heard that statues and amulets like this are usually used to ward off something.”
“Damn, that’s just a world-scale annoyance.”
Ronan grunted. He had known that Sita’s radius of action was increasing as she grew larger, but he hadn’t expected this. He slammed into Sita.
“Hey, baby, stop sleeping and wake up.”
I felt like I needed to know what was going on. But Sita was still dazed and confused. No matter how much I shook and pinched her, she wouldn’t budge.
“This is crazy.
The fraudulence of the whole thing was suddenly apparent. Sita hadn’t done this since she’d gotten drunk on the blood of the Southern battlefields. Sighing, Ronan tugged on the hilt of his sword.
“Ew, that’s my ninja.”
It would have to be a trick. Ronan cut the tip of his finger slightly and drew a drop of blood into Sita’s mouth. Soon, Sita’s eyes opened, her mouth salty.
“Paaa—paaaah?”
“Are you waking up now? Good for you.”
Ronan shook his head. Her behavior hadn’t changed with her size. Shaking her head like a dog shaking off water, Sita straightened up. Ronan lifted the statue and asked.
“Where did you get this from, huh?”
“Powwow?”
“Dude. Don’t just pretend you don’t understand me at times like this. Did you really go all the way to the New World?”
“Paaaaah!”
Ronan asked, and Sita flapped her wings quickly. The synchronized motion was a sure sign of approval. Tet! Suddenly, from Sita’s open mouth, a dozen more statues similar to the first one popped out.
“Bam! Bam!”
“Oh, shit.”
Ronan cursed under his breath. The family of statues, each one seemingly out of place, all had a piece of paper taped to them as an amulet or something.
Sita, who could not possibly know such a thing, puffed out her chest as if she had a great gift in store for him. Ronan, slowly drying his face, looked back at Nabiroze.
“—Yes, sir.”
“Tell me.”
“If the dog does something wrong, the owner is responsible, right?”
“Right.”
“Damn, I didn’t think my first international trip was going to be like this.”
I felt like I was going blind. If something had happened because of Sita, I had to take responsibility and clean it up. If it was really bad, it could become an international problem.
Ronan groaned at the sudden increase in his workload. A familiar voice came from the doorway.
“Ah, there you are, Ronan.”
“Huh?”
Ronan turned his head. A man with long hair tied back in a bun stood somewhere. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and a thick book tucked into his side. Ronan raised an eyebrow at the smiling stranger.
“Are you Balus?”
“It’s been a while, how have you been?”
“Yeah, but—holy shit. What the hell happened?”
Ronan gasped in dismay, but it was his punisher, Balus, the poacher he had once taken out of Caribolo.
Ronan captured him in the White Water and recruited him as Varen’s assistant. The last time I saw him was briefly before the war, and I wondered what the hell happened in the interim. The Balus I’d seen in so long was a complete idiot. No, he’s grown into a scholar of some sort, beyond that notion.
“With Prof. Varen’s support, I have studied abroad all over the world. I realized there was so much I didn’t know about the world, which led me to publish a paper at the Royal Society.”
“—That’s good.”
“It’s all thanks to Ronan. Meeting Ronan and Asel on a scouting mission years ago was the best thing that ever happened to me, even though I was scared to death at the time.”
Balus laughed. There was no hint of his former self in the gentle smile. He was one of the best of the punishers, to put it mildly, but apparently, a person’s upbringing was more important than where they came from.
“I wonder if the rest of the dumbasses will be like this.
Suddenly, the faces of the gnomes I’d played with during my time as a punishment soldier flashed through my mind. Now that I had graduated, I felt like I could finally put my plan into action.
It was because of them that Ronan had been granted a knighthood, a title he’d always found troublesome. His goal was to rehabilitate his former fellow punishment soldiers who hadn’t yet fallen away.
In fact, some of their comrades were already living in Ronan’s estate, Valture. Beaten and dragged, they were working day and night to clear the unexplored lands of the north. Of course, they were being paid honestly for their labor.
“I’ll just make it human and send it to Phileon, because training is not something I can do.
Ronan rubbed his chin as he considered his next move. Suddenly, blood trickled from Balus’s eyes and nose. His shoulders slumped in thought.
“Huff! Blood, blood?!”
“Pahahahaha!”
Then I heard a raspy laugh from behind me. Sita was flapping her wings and giggling. Ronan, realizing the situation, growled.
“Dude. Can you stop right now?”
It was a prank Sita played on Balus when she first met him. Their relationship had begun when Ronan had saved Balus from bleeding to death. The grass died, and Sita bowed her head.
“Powwww—.”
“Alive, alive.”
The blood from Balus’s face has returned to its place, and he breathes a sigh of relief when he sees that the blood on his clothes is completely gone. Ronan patted Balus on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I’m too playful.”
“Oh, no—it’s okay. I’m just surprised it happened after so long.”
“Good, then. So what brings you here?”
Ronan asked. He was so happy to see a familiar face that the story leaked out. Balus straightened his robes and clapped his hands.
“Ah. I’m here to tell you that Professor Varen is looking for you. He says he’s figured out the identity of the sphere.”
“Huh? So soon?”
****
Ronan went straight back to his office. Nabiroze left for his lessons, saying he would see him soon. Opening the door, Varen called out.
“Ohhh. You’re back!”
“Oops, surprise.”
Varen sat at his desk, his face aglow with excitement, waiting for Ronan to return. The once neat desk was now a mess of documents and experimental tools.
Overgrown, Sita stuck her head inside the window and blinked her eyes. Varen, who had been scratching Sita’s chin, opened his mouth.
“I did some research, and Ronan was right: the mana content of the sphere matches the Dreambird over 90% of the time.”
“What the fuck. Really?”
Ronan’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected it to hit. Varen gestured to the sphere on his desk.
“Yes. The reason I couldn’t detect the mana with my naked eye was because the skin was so thick. I’ve seen a lot of animals in my life, but I’ve never seen one this thick.”
“That’s amazing. Then why was the dreambird’s egg in my pocket?”
“Well, honestly, there’s no way for me to know that – you don’t have any memory of when you got the egg?”
“Mmmm—so—.”
Ronan’s brow narrowed. Closing his eyes and retracing his steps, he thought he might remember something.
The last thing Ronan saw before his breath ran out was the shore of a dying star. Amidst the brilliant stars, the red sea, and the white sands, he slit Abel’s throat.
‘Yeah. That’s when I reached out.’
The memory of bleeding to death was still vivid. In his fading consciousness, Ronan reached out his hand. He grabbed the white sand and the orb that rested on it and stuffed it into his pocket.
So that’s what happened. Ronan’s eyes snapped open.
“I remembered.”
“Ohhh. Good, so were there any dreambirds or supposed dreambird creatures around?”
“Nope. It’s a star that was destroyed by bald men.”
“Think about it. There must have been something nearby, not too far away.”
“No, there really wasn’t, and the only other living thing besides me was that Abel bastard—?”
Ronan’s eyes widened. An absurd idea flashed through his mind. No, no, no, no, no, not that. Shifting his gaze to the sphere, he opened his mouth.
“So you’re saying that Abel the bastard was a dream?”
—Oh my God.”
Varen froze. The pupils behind his glasses narrowed to dots. Ronan’s reaction was far more serious than he’d expected.
“What, why aren’t you cheating? Do you really think that’s possible?”
I laughed at the absurdity of it all. To think that the headmistress of Nebula Clasier, who had made the world tremble, was a dream, and that a novel could be written in such a manner, would be reviled. Varen drained his teacup with a trembling hand.
“It’s not–it doesn’t make sense.”
“What?”
“As you may recall, dreambirds are capable of infinite transformations under the influence of something. It’s not uncommon for them to take on the form of animals other than birds, and there are documented cases of them turning into buildings like palaces and towers. It’s unprecedented, but it’s not impossible for them to turn into intelligent beings, as the theory goes.”
“What does that mean–no, shit, really?”
Ronan blushed with embarrassment. Coming from the most prominent author in the field, he couldn’t deny it. Suddenly, the old story Cain had told him flashed through his mind.
“Come to think of it.
Cain drank the blood of an ancient giant king and gained the ability to grant wishes. He used this power to restore broken villages and save a nation from destruction, but he couldn’t fulfill his desire to bring the dead back to life.
But Abel was different: He was brought back to life to fulfill Cain’s wish for his brother. Technically, he was never born.
In retrospect, he was a weirdo from birth. Maybe it was really Abel who left this egg behind. Ronan said.
“So what the hell is being born here?”
“Well, that’s something I really can’t fathom, a being born with Nebula Clasier as its mother–aha!”
“Holy shit. What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
Suddenly, Varen shouted. Rising to his heavy feet, he began rummaging through the study. Soon he returned with a single, curled scroll.
“I got it and forgot about it, so here’s what I’m going to do with it.”
“What is that?”
“This spell was created by Professor Sekrit based on information gathered by me and Mr. Balus. It will hold the key to unlocking the secrets of the Dreambird.”
“Magic—? Secrets—?”
The color drained from Varen’s otherwise stony face. Ronan’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Sekrit’s name.
“I’m a little uneasy about this. What exactly is the magic you’re doing?”
“Haha, don’t be alarmed, this is quite a—”
Varen purposely dragged his feet. Somehow, it amplified her anxiety. Turning his head, he patted Sita’s head.
“It’s the magic of polymorphing animals into people.”