34 – Not Plum Orchids but Rain.
He thought it would be enough to die fighting.
But it seemed that even that was not allowed by the damned fate the goddess had planned.
Several heroes threw themselves at the Four Heavenly Kings to buy time for the hero who was supposed to be saved.
Other heroes had cleared the way.
The man in the half-mask led me toward the back.
The most dreadful realization at this moment was
The moment I intuited that we couldn’t defeat those demons.
I.
Was afraid of death.
Even in this desperate state, still, I hesitated, fearful of dying.
That was the case even now.
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I could’ve ignored the heroes who came to my rescue and continued to fight.
I could’ve shrugged off the grip of the masked man who held my hand and charged back into battle at any moment.
But I couldn’t do it.
The gazes of those heroes, pleading for me to live.
The earnest voice of the masked man gripping my hand, beseeching me to follow.
It made me feel like I was reverting to the younger, immature girl I once was.
For some reason.
I just couldn’t.
Hold onto the holy sword any longer.
“We will soon arrive at the ‘Boundary.'”
The Boundary that connected the demon world and the human world was a massive wall where violet and blue intermingled and shimmered. It was so vast it seemed to reach the horizon. Once we crossed this place, we could enter the world beyond.
The moment we were about to cross the Boundary with the heroes.
An eerie green smoke swirled around us like fog. I had seen this smoke before.
“Tch, the so-called hero runs away like a rat. To think that such a one… Has Lain fallen… It’s utterly pitiful.”
From the rifts in the demon realm below, skeletons rose. The ghastly wails of restless spirits filled the air as a chilling wind swept through.
I took up the holy sword.
I had thought it impossible to defeat the three mighty demons when they worked together, but with the heroes by my side, perhaps at least one…
“Hero, you run ahead. I will buy us time.”
“What?”
“Be the wind that propels the back of a fleeing messenger. A favorable wind (順風).”
In that moment.
The masked man used magic and pushed me forward.
He found himself hovering in the air, pushed beyond the line of defense.
‘Magi?’
The man’s magic had the feel of ‘Magi.’
As he was mulling over what this fact implies, his surroundings became chaotic.
“That Magi… No way… It couldn’t be… Wuchen… Wuchen…! We, we need to go back!”
“Hero, the hero is having a seizure! Get the tranquilizer!”
“Let go! Let go of this!”
“I apologize. You, Hero.”
“This… let go….”
Feeling something stinging his skin.
His consciousness began to fade.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in the clinic of the academy.
An elf, who identified himself as the director of the academy, came to see him. He had a long conversation with the director.
He was asked if he knows the half-human half-demon, Wuchen.
“Half-human half-demon you say? Ah, if you mean Professor Plum Orchid…”
Professor Plum Orchid died bravely fighting against the Four Heavenly Kings at the border, the director told him.
He shared stories about this professor named Plum Orchid.
About how the professor was highly respected, how virtuous, wise, and just he was.
He knew then in an instant.
It was Wuchen, it’d be difficult to think of another who could be Wuchen.
Wuchen’s arrival at the academy was shortly after his battle with the devil. He thought Wuchen had died, but in fact, Wuchen saved him and then left.
Probably, as the archbishop had mentioned, it was a matter of ‘the organization’. The details were not clear.
And then.
He fought recklessly without knowing that.
And eventually made Wuchen sacrifice once again… for him… along with several other heroes.
“By the way, there was a message that Professor Plum wanted me to deliver to you. Looking back now… I think he might have been ready to make a sacrifice since then”
He didn’t want to hear this.
He didn’t want to listen but he found himself asking to hear it anyway.
The director delivered Wuchen’s message.
“Hero, you don’t have to push yourself so hard. You are still…young. It’s okay to act at your own pace, a little more relaxed. Humanity is not so weak that it would perish just because you lag a little. Trust others from time to time. They can fare better than you think, even on their own.”
That day, I had cried all day long.
I continued to cry as the tears wouldn’t stop, fell asleep as if collapsing from exhaustion, woke up only to cry again.
Like the day I lost my mother.
Like a young child ignorant of the responsibilities of a hero or the sharpness of a holy sword, simply immature.
I wept unendingly, truly unendingly.
I thought I had already died. If my fate was to only stand on the sacrifices of others, I thought that would make me no different from maggots crawling over a corpse.
So, I considered myself to have no right to grieve, no right to smile.
“Hero, if it’s alright with you, would you like to learn alongside the students of the academy? We’ve also prepared some educational materials left by Professor Plum.”
But, a little respite.
A bit of a lull, a gift for myself.
It seems like it would be okay to indulge in that.
“…Yes.”
I managed to smile.
*
On the day the hero rescue operation succeeded,
Roza Primrose received a gift, the gift she had dreamed of all her life.
“You reclaimed the Primrose Territory?”
“Yes, while the demons were distracted by the hero. A few of our heroes managed to destroy all the dungeon cores in the Primrose Territory, which had been overrun.”
“How did you…”
“It was Professor Plum’s idea. In case the demons continued to pursue us beyond the ‘border’, he proposed that we reclaim the world’s end while rescuing the hero. Everyone thought it was a preposterous idea… but when they saw the state of the dungeons the hero had conquered, everyone fell silent. No one could have imagined that the hero had already conquered so many dungeons.”
It was a gift she had dreamed of all her life, but…
“What about Professor Plum? What happened to him?”
“Well, that’s…”
She couldn’t be delighted.
Because it was achieved due to the sacrifice of a dear one.
Professor Plum had taught her peace of mind. To her who had been living only depending on her father’s legacy, the name ‘Primrose’, he taught her that there was life beyond that.
He taught her the beauty of sunset, the twinkling of stars, the mystery of magic…
Perhaps he had taught her something on the verge of love, the throbbing of her heart.
Such a person had died. It didn’t feel real.
The reclaiming of Primrose’s territory, and the death of Professor Plum, neither felt real.
“Would you like to visit Primrose’s territory once?”
“Please… make it happen…”
Having received permission from the academy, he set out to revisit his old hometown.
The place was a mess, corroded by magic. The purple mist that once filled the air was now gone, but the land lay barren, with monsters wandering all over. They said it would take several years for the magic to fully dissipate.
He looked around then headed towards the Lord’s Castle. The castle was in ruins, with only its structure remaining. Among the rubble, he found a door leading to the basement. For some reason, the wreckage around the door had been moved aside.
As if someone had recently used this door to come and go.
Entranced by something, he entered the basement. The cool air, typical of basements, brushed against his skin.
Memories of this place resurfaced. This was… his father’s wine cellar.
As he descended the stairs, he saw rows of oak barrels filled with liquor and glass bottles plugged with cork. Feeling a sense of discomfort, he looked down at the floor. It was intricately littered with something that resembled graffiti.
A magic circle in the shape of… a creature’s blood vessels. It was the magic circle of demons.
Had the demons who occupied this territory used some kind of great magic here? Such doubts arose, but disappeared soon after.
This was a very recent addition.
And, it was incomplete. There were missing parts in the magic circle.
While examining the magic circle, he found a letter.
The recipient was ‘Rosa Primrose’.
And the sender… was Professor Plum.
[To Rosa Primrose]
[If Rosa is reading this letter, then that would mean my plan to reclaim the end of the world has succeeded.
Or, the plan failed, but much time has passed and Rosa Primrose has successfully reclaimed the territory herself.
Either way is fine!
This magic circle is a little gift that I prepared for Primrose, who has returned to her hometown.
I put a lot of effort into drawing it. It’s a very large magic circle. So large that… it would use up all the magical energy in the soil within the outer walls of Primrose.
Did you notice?
Yes. This is a magic circle designed to consume a large amount of magic. It seems faster than waiting for it to purify on its own.
I left a few triggers in the magic circle empty to prevent the magic circle from activating itself before the end of the world is seized.
Please fill in those parts yourself, Rosa. The triggers are designed to activate by consuming mana, so don’t worry.
It wouldn’t be fun to just reveal the magic circle… so I left it as a problem for you to review what you’ve learned.
The converted demon magic circle drawn below is the trigger.]
[With love]
[Plum Radiant Orchid.]
It was truly absurd.
If there had been time to leave such a letter… Could he not have written a slightly more touching letter?
Usually so sentimental, playing with people’s emotions.
But the last letter left was… a magic circle quiz.
It was so ridiculous that a hollow laughter escaped.
Only then, belatedly, did the realization of Professor Plume’s death seep in.
“Oh, ugh…”
Tears fell.
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Soon, he found himself huddled on the floor, crying.
After a long while spent crying,
he wiped away his tears with his sleeve and continued to clear his blurred vision.
Then, he properly checked the problems to complete the magic circle.
Because mental calculations were difficult, he used a Fillchange magic that could write letters in the air, interpreting the magic circle.
Then, created ‘Trigger’ was slotted into the empty space of the magic circle.
As soon as he did, the magic circle began to emit light and started to absorb the mana and magic energy from its surroundings. Two different kinds of energy, thick enough to be seen with naked eye, gathered toward the magic circle.
Then,
The magic was activated.
It was a very familiar magic.
Soon, the basement was full of twinkling stars.
“…It’s too sweet.”
The stars were very sweet.
The stars were so sweet, that he cried once again.
That day, even his tears were sweet.
*
The lecture room for ‘Basic Magic Theory’, where the dean of the Magic Department took over the lectures.
Rosie Primrose ended up attending the lecture with a hero.
While the dean explained why Professor Plume could not give lectures,
Rosie heard the hero muttering in a low voice.
“It’s not Plume, it’s Woocheon….”
It was a familiar name.