Chapter 120. Shall I come around this time next year?
The greatest virtue of Endurance was patience. The Librarian, Teheman, pressed down the surging anger with his characteristic patience.
“Are you… being serious?”
“I’m serious.”
“If you uttered that as a jest, you will not only forfeit the shard, but you will not escape punishment either.”
“Why would I crack jokes after a hot meal?”
“…”
Tap! Tap!
Perhaps he had fallen into deep thought. Teheman tapped the armrest with his gaunt fingers.
It wasn’t long before his lips opened.
“Then, you must also know what that means. To eradicate all magic tomes is…”
“To make every magic clan my enemy. Something like that, isn’t it? Ah, I misspoke.”
“…Speak, then. I will grant you the chance to take it back.”
Teheman’s eyes gleamed with a chilling light. The sharp aura would have daunted anyone, yet Aster instead sprawled comfortably on the sofa.
“At the gambling table I sit at, there’s a cheating gambler. Well, I understand. If you don’t like cheats, don’t gamble, right?”
“…”
“So fine, that’s all good. Whether they cheat, or get caught and lose a hand. What can I do? If they want to bet their own hands and fool around. But here’s the problem.”
Aster’s eyes gleamed with madness at that very moment.
“Of all places, that gambling table had to be the one I was sitting at.”
“…”
“If they cheated fair and square and tested their luck, I might accept it… but those rich bastards, pulling out magic tomes? Magic swords? Isn’t that a bit too much?”
Yes, that was the problem.
What? A magic tome bestows the pinnacle of all laws?
Damn it, if that’s the case then why study magic and bleed sweat in training at all? Just grab one tome and you’re done.
Of course, Aster knew that magic tomes were not absolute.
‘So what if you have a tome? The caster has to be the real deal. But… even so, this is too much.’
No matter how much of a genius, surpassing scum who clutched a magic tome was close to impossible.
In gambling terms, it was a table where the winner had already been chosen. No, not only the winner.
‘They even rewrite the rules to their liking.’
That was the very first thought that crossed Aster’s mind when he heard about the ‘abilities of the magic tomes’ from Teheman.
‘How is that gambling? That’s robbery.’
“So, what you’re saying is…”
“I need to overturn the entire table. Magic tomes, magic swords, no, every transcendent artifact of that level. They should all be eradicated. …That’s my thought.”
“…Heh.”
Teheman inadvertently let out a faint sigh.
‘I thought it was just thoughtless blabber. …But he really means it?’
In truth, it was thoughtless blabber. But it was spoken with sincerity.
At that earnest sincerity, Teheman stifled a groan.
‘…What am I to do?’
The Test of Endurance.
Though called a ‘test,’ it had no clear standard of passing. The result depended solely on what the Endurance of the age saw, heard, and felt. It was simply a confirmation. After all, the Endurances could not hand over the shard they had safeguarded for thousands of years to some petty thug.
‘Isn’t this far too dangerous?’
― “To eradicate all transcendent artifacts.”
That was something even Heaven’s Reversal, even its master, could not guarantee. No, it was close to impossible.
No one could oppose an entire continent. And yet…
“…”
Teheman took in the sight of Aster, slouched there. A world of only darkness. Around Aster, the living letters wriggled and swayed.
He knew it was dangerous… but why?
‘…I’m curious.’
He did not truly believe Aster could destroy all transcendent artifacts.
But still… The current master of Heaven’s Reversal.
What path would this young, young boy walk in the future? What kind of world would this perilous being draw?
That alone he wanted to know.
And just when Teheman’s thoughts reached there, Aster’s voice pricked his ear.
“Are you asleep?”
“…”
One remark that soured the grand mood.
“…Phew.”
Teheman let out a deep sigh.
“Ah, so you weren’t asleep.”
It wasn’t that Aster thought his eyes closed meant he was asleep. He was saying, if you’re not sleeping, answer already.
At that insolent sight, Teheman recalled his earlier conversation with Schwarz.
— “Be careful. That one’s a madman.”
— “Hehe, could he be any worse than you were in your youth?”
— “…Apologize. If you still consider me a friend, you’d better apologize.”
‘…I’m sorry. I thought it was a dirty dog scolding one with husks on its fur.’
In truth, Schwarz had been the one with husks.
“Shall I come around this time next year?”
“…No.”
Teheman answered in a restrained voice.
“Follow me. I shall hand you the shard of Heaven’s Reversal.”
* * *
The Librarian led him to the upper floors of Lafiter.
“Infuse your permit with mana.”
Crrrkkk!
When Aster handed the infused permit, the Librarian opened the door with it.
“Try not to let the permit leave your body. The defenses of Lafiter will activate.”
“By defenses you mean…”
“The magic of Endurance. You may test it if you wish. If you have no regrets in life.”
“…”
A chilling remark.
‘…Good thing I didn’t try robbing this place.’
The presence he had felt in the Librarian’s office had not been ordinary.
Not plundering Lafiter, but coaxing the Headmaster to grant him a permit, yes, that was the right choice.
But suddenly, a question arose.
“Sir Librarian, didn’t you say earlier…?”
“What?”
“That… that Lafiter was built for me. I’m sure that’s what I heard?”
“…Not ‘for you,’ but for the ‘master of Heaven’s Reversal.’ And more accurately, not ‘for,’ but merely as a ‘place of waiting.’”
“…Ah, yes.”
Stubborn old man.
Drawing the line so cleanly.
In truth, Aster’s intended build-up had been like this:
1. Lafiter was built for me.
2. If it was built for me, then it is mine.
3. Therefore, Lafiter is mine.
Of course, there was a logical fallacy between 1 and 2. But hasn’t it always been said, logical fallacies are patched up with sophistry, paradox, obstinacy, and twisted reasoning?
Yet the Librarian’s guard was tighter than expected.
‘Not even giving me the chance to argue.’
Indeed, after their Q&A in the office, the defenses seemed heightened.
Anyway, enough of the jokes.
“We’re here.”
The Librarian stopped before a massive bookshelf on the upper floors of Lafiter.
Was there a secret passage? Aster looked around curiously, but nothing stood out. Bookshelves as secret doors were such a classic method that a glance was usually enough to estimate the mechanism.
Maybe the shard was hidden among the books?
While Aster pondered, the Librarian spoke.
“This passage was concealed by generations of Endurances. It looks simple, but thirty-eight different spells are woven into its protections. The method to enter is…”
Clack! Clunk! Clunk!
Teheman pulled out thirty-eight books in sequence.
Aster watched carefully, then turned his gaze away. It was too complicated, and even memorizing it would be pointless.
‘The mana pattern has to be adjusted each time too.’
Even if he knew the order, without the mana patterns, he couldn’t enter.
And when all the steps were done…
Rrrrumble! Rumble!
The massive bookshelf split open, revealing a passageway.
Teheman stepped aside and turned his gaze to Aster.
“Go on. Down there lies the shard of Heaven’s Reversal.”
“…”
Even without being told, he could tell.
Wooooom! Wooom!
The seal flared, resonating once more, like a long-lost partner finally met, it cried out in aching resonance.
‘Down there…’
…the shard of Heaven’s Reversal awaited.
Aster lingered for a moment in the resonance, then stepped into the dark passage.
* * *
The spiral staircase wound endlessly downward.
“…”
Only darkness filled the space. Aster traced the wall, descending step by step.
He tried a simple light spell, but the darkness did not recede.
It was no ordinary darkness.
Ssss! Ssshh!
Faint breaths.
Only the dry sound of his footsteps echoed in the dark as Aster sank into thought.
‘The shard of Heaven’s Reversal, huh…’
What he had expected from Lafiter had been no more than a tiny clue.
A fragmentary lead, nothing more. In that sense, meeting the Librarian Teheman had been an unforeseen fortune.
‘I’ve gained precious information.’
Heaven’s Reversal, a power that defied order. Not only its identity, but also the shards and the Endurances who protected them. Without meeting Teheman, would he have gained such knowledge?
‘I would have… eventually.’
But who knew how long it would take, at best, years. If unlucky, decades.
Yet still, one question remained unresolved.
The second seal of fire.
What was its purpose? For even now, the only seal exuding presence was the first.
‘After finally obtaining it, it turns out useless.’
Considering how much hell he went through fighting Destro, it was truly a shame, and that wasn’t all.
‘I don’t even know how to use it. Or what powers it has.’
At times, it lent strength at critical moments. But always one-sided.
And its abilities…
‘Never consistent enough to be defined.’
If anything, the closest pattern was… yes.
“Time, perhaps?”
No, more than ‘close,’ it was the most striking of its workings.
Regression, and projection of past lives, only twice had it touched upon time.
Still, such doubts were trivial.
Wooooom! Woooom!
Feeling the vibration in his chest, Aster murmured softly.
“What is your purpose, you?”
At first he thought it merely a convenient tool. No, not convenient, an overwhelming miracle in itself. But when he thought back on its reactions, it wasn’t so simple.
‘It feels like it has some goal of its own.’
It had sent him back in time, reshaped his body. That much was fine. But then…
Destrou, it had been Heaven’s Reversal that led him to that monster.
“Is it that you wish to restore your incomplete body? Or reclaim your shards?”
As always, Heaven’s Reversal gave no reply.
Only…
Wooooom! Woooom!
At the end of the passage, where the presence of the shard grew stronger, it cried out.
“Well, I didn’t expect an answer anyway. In any case…”
Aster took in the space.
Pitch black. In the center, the shard of Heaven’s Reversal floated, faintly glowing.
Sensing its main body, the shard, pages inscribed with grotesque characters, resonated.
Aster strode toward it.
“But this time, it won’t just end with me taking it, will it? Like with the second seal?”
Wooooom! Woooom!
“Tch, better I groan than you stay silent.”
Turning his back to the unresponsive Heaven’s Reversal, Aster reached for the shard.
“I don’t know what your purpose is, but fine.”
Dekulan and Paheren, the Tower and the Library, and if possible, even the eradication of transcendent artifacts.
To achieve all that he sought, Heaven’s Reversal’s power was not optional, but necessary.
So then…
“For now, let’s get along.”
Whether coexistence with Heaven’s Reversal was collaboration with an ally, or lying with the enemy, he couldn’t know.
At least, not yet.
“This time, give me something useful. Hm? Don’t wipe your hands clean like with the second seal.”
With that, Aster grasped the shard.
…And right after…
“Huh…”
Aster was able to obtain what he desired.
