186. The Miracle That Shouldn’t Happen (1)
In the end, the rain did not stop.
Melancholy dark clouds, damp rain.
The sound of a bell that had been resonating quietly in the city reached my ears through the sound of rain, announcing that a young star had lost.
I didn’t even avoid the puddle on the floor, I stepped on it and walked forward.
I soon entered a small cathedral where I heard the sound of bells.
The air has become more solemn.
There was no light there, so candles were lighted quietly here and there.
Jetto was visible at the end of the hall.
Jetto was lying comfortably in a wooden box that was darker than blood.
After today, the coffin containing the dead will be firmly closed. So, this was the last moment I could see Jeto.
I looked at Zeppetti and Ray, both dressed in black, standing by the coffin.
“Sister Eisel…”
Have you accepted this terrible reality?
Zepetti was no longer crying.
Ray avoids my gaze.
It was too harsh for her at her young age.
“……”
After bowing my head lightly to express my condolences to them, I faced Jeto.
Zetto, who was lying on a stylish jet-black coat, was wearing an academy uniform.
The white bandage that always accompanied Zeto was held in his right hand and placed on his chest along with the sword.
Except for the fact that his left arm was nowhere to be seen, Jeto, whose eyes were tightly closed, seemed unscathed to the naked eye.
It seemed as if he would stand up and talk to me at any moment.
But… I knew better than anyone that such miracles would not happen.
Unknowingly, his hand holding the coffin became stronger.
This was the second time this scene was seen.
I searched and found again.
Wandering and wandering again.
I wandered the world with only one thought to save Zeto.
I couldn’t find it.
The miracle did not happen.
There was no way to revive the dead whose life had already been extinguished.
At that time, I gave up.
I chose a more convenient method.
It was the first time he had chosen to return on his own without even facing the danger of death.
I turned back time.
For the sake of the insignificant me.
Everything that people have built has become nothing.
I was selfish and tricked myself into thinking it was for Zeto.
If you don’t, you won’t be able to move forward.
I thought I couldn’t save Zeto.
The result is this.
Zetto died again.
I made him suffer again.
How sick was Jetto?
How painful it must have been for me to have chosen my own death even though he saved me.
I gently stroked his hair.
I could feel the cold on his forehead behind his hair, penetrating his black gloves.
It was cold.
His pain was being conveyed.
I’m sorry, Jeto.
I couldn’t possibly save you.
Because I am an incompetent regressor.
For making me go through this twice.
I’m so sorry.
There are no miracles.
For him as well as for me.
Return was never a miracle.
The happiness that was once again turned into a greater misfortune, and the joy turned into a greater sadness.
This is a curse engraved in my soul.
Yes.
Regression has always been a curse to me.
I thought of various ways to save Zeto, but it was no longer meaningful.
From the moment my worthless life was saved by Zeto…
…It was decided.
My destiny.
“……”
I decided to accept that fate.
Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain and turn to dust.
Don’t become a meaningless death.
No matter how servile and miserable the future may be, I will persevere tenaciously until the end.
So…
“…Rest in peace, Jetto.”
I bent down and kissed Zeto’s forehead.
Then he turned his back.
“…You’re here early.”
I saw Kaen.
I came to mourn the death of Zeto.
He created countless relationships in his short life. Many people will come after that.
Before, I couldn’t even wait for the end of him and spurred out of the cathedral.
I ran away, saying there might be a way to save him.
It was different now.
Because there is no reason or meaning to do so.
“Jetto is waiting for you.”
After that, I lightly bowed her head to Kaen and moved her steps.
I sat down on a long chair on one side of the cathedral.
Then he looked at Jeto endlessly.
I tried to wait for his end.
Then, a requiem in honor of Jeto gently lingers in your ears.
A sad tune.
There was despair in that melody.
***
I looked down at Jeto.
His serene face was the same as it had been in the mortuary, except that now he lay in his coffin, breathing and as well-dressed as when he was alive.
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At first, I was simply angry.
I felt like I could reach it now, but I felt resentful that I had missed it.
It was unfair.
It is natural that people die someday, but I couldn’t understand why it had to be Zeto.
I tried to express the resentment that had pierced my heart with anger.
But after hearing Kaliman’s story, I changed my mind. I almost did something stupid.
I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come out.
It’s been a long time since my eyes dried up right away.
I took the ring off my ring finger.
The ring immediately went to the ring finger of Zeto’s right hand, who was holding a white bandage.
“If it was left handed… It would have been better…”
Anyway, even after his death, it was not allowed to me.
“I’ll remember that, Zeto.”
I laughed like an idiot.
This time it wasn’t acting.
***
The bell rings.
It was announced that the young star had lost.
Jetto’s funeral was held in a small church near the academy.
A large number of people were waiting for the funeral. This is because there were quite a few people who had built a kite with Jeto.
“The blind saint…”
“At a young age…”
“What a nightmare…”
I can hear the mournful voices of the residents of Innocence Academy in the procession.
A man listening to this asks the woman in a black dress.
“Director, what does a blind saint mean…?”
“That’s what the dead guy was called. He seems to have been doing good deeds around the city.”
The identity of the woman who answered was Blanc, the southern branch manager of the continent’s best information guild, ‘Black Hand’.
Blanc came simply to stay by Aisel’s side, but she had no choice but to bring a guild member to replace her due to the guild leader’s order to collect information.
The guild member Blanc brought was a man named ‘Hakam’, who was called ‘the bird of the morning’.
Hakam, the bird of the morning.
By the way, he claims to be a fateful rival with one of his guild members, the ‘Night Mouse’.
As Hakam looked over Zeto’s funeral, he was deeply doubtful.
It was the funeral of an academy cadet from a commoner without a family name.
I know that many people have gathered because they have good personalities, but the quality of the information to be collected here is good.
I followed the branch manager’s order, but Hakam, who had recently been losing performance to the Night Rat, was feeling a bit dissatisfied.
‘Let’s just mourn and go.’
Even though he had the unusual nickname of a blind saint, he moved his steps by collecting and spraying birds flying low in the flowing rain that seemed to have no information to dig out.
Blanc opens his mouth just as he enters the cathedral.
“I have some business to see…”
“Yes, branch manager.”
“…Should I stay alert?”
“…”
Why do I need to say such a thing?
Hakam glanced at Blanc while thinking about that.
Within a few minutes, as he fully entered the cathedral, he knew why.
‘That’s…’
The first thing that caught Hakam’s eyes was a man with red hair.
Because it was Hakam who set up a postal system using birds that only the black-handed VIPs could use, you could tell just by looking at the back of his head.
‘Zerath Clementine…?’
The identity of the man was Gerath Clementine, the head of the Clementine family of the Continental Four Elements family.
‘Why is Prince Clementine at the cadet’s funeral?’
Hakam, who was about to ask Blanc a question belatedly, looked around, but Blanc had long since disappeared in the crowd.
‘The branch manager is always like this…’
Hakam, thinking that there was nothing he could do, decided to go to work in a corner of the funeral home and hide in moderation.
‘Is there a daughter next to him?’
The braided red hair.
The daughter of Xerath, Yuri Clementine, seemed certain.
Hakam was looking at Xerath and Yuri standing in front of Zeto’s coffin. He soon listens to gather information.
His nickname of bird of the morning is a nickname that can be attached simply because he handles birds, but it was also because he has exceptionally bright ears.
Birds listen to daytime words, and mice listen to nighttime words.
Hakam poured mana into his ears and amplified his ability to hear.
Soon, Yuri’s voice is heard.
“You said you’d come back…”
“……”
“Come back… Please…”
“Glass…”
It was a heartbreaking cry that left bitterness in Hakam’s mouth as he overheard it.
‘As expected, a place is a place, so I can’t help but feel this complicated… But work is work…’
Hakam thought so and sorted out the information.
A cadet named Jeto, who died this time, had a close relationship with Yuri Clementine.
It could be that Xerath came simply to comfort her daughter, but this is not accurate.
Because the position of the head of a family has a great meaning.
‘That said, could Cadet Zeto have a direct relationship with Xerath? Even though she has excellent skills, there is no reason why the prosecutor has a relationship with the Clementine family…’
The time when Hakam was questioned.
Yuri places an ice cube in the coffin and turns her back. Soon, only Xerath remained in front of Zeto, staring down at him.
Then, Xerath whispered softly in Hakam’s ears.
“…I thought I would have a son-in-law.”
‘Son-in-law…?’
“You are the worst son-in-law. You dare make my daughter cry…”
In Xerath’s voice as he continued to speak, instead of anger, he felt dejected.
“Next time, don’t fall so fleetingly… Make your woman happier.”
“……”
“May the protection of the phoenix dwell…”
With those words, Xerath turned his back.
Hakam’s mouth fell open as he found out some great information.
‘Isn’t Yuri Clementine connected to the first prince of the Kingdom of Terrasia…?’
Of course, I knew that it was close to the pressure of power, but it was the first information I learned that Xerath was trying to make Jeto his son-in-law.
After Yuri and Xerath, an unknown old man appeared.
It was a face that wasn’t specifically in the information, but Hakam’s ears were open, so I could hear his voice.
“…What is it, are you sad too?”
The old man said that, looking not at Jeto’s face in the coffin, but at his feet.
“That’s strange. Don’t you hate this guy…? Huh, really… What kind of magic did he use… Now that he has no life force to consume, you’ll be liberated in a few days.”
Hearing this, Hakam couldn’t understand the old man’s words and thought, ‘He’s just a lunatic…’ And passed it over lightly.
After the crazy old man, another shabby old man approaches.
But this time, that face was familiar.
Hakam knew the old man’s face beneath his tattered robes.
No, he was an unforgettable figure for himself.
Hakam remembered the last time he had met him.
I tried my best to catch the bird that was about to fly away, and came to the ‘tower’ and said, ‘I want to write a letter to Julius Klaus.’ The old man asked casually.
Hakam, who did not know English, felt threatened for his life at that time.
An old man who suddenly sat cross-legged in front of Jeto’s coffin opens his mouth.
“…I’m sure you didn’t ask me to come find you until I die of old age. But what if you die first…”
Hakam, overhearing the trivial conversation between the dead and the old man, was stunned.
This is because the identity of the old man is none other than Chris, the best swordsman on the continent.
‘I heard you had a friendship with the sword castle…?’
Chris took a sip of the bottle of alcohol he took out of his bosom and left after saying something like ‘Sorry… Sorry…’.
Hakam thought.
Perhaps the dead cadet Zeto cannot be put in the category of an academy cadet.
He might have been a key figure who wasn’t even in the Black Hand’s information network.
Next was a subject named Anthony.
A man who was quite famous in the Holy Land, but after being falsely accused and exiled, he succeeded once again and is called a legend in the industry by merchants.
He came with his daughter and confronted Jeto.
“…Dad, why isn’t Zeto waking up?”
“That’s what…”
“Brother Zeto… Wake up…”
“Emilia…”
“It’s just like my mom… I’m asleep… People are crying… I hate this…”
“……”
The innocence of a young child is bound to come very cruel to adults at times.
Hakam stopped overhearing him and cut off the flow of mana into his ears.
‘Damn it…’
It was a feeling that informants often experience.
Hakam scratched his head. He
He had to work, but it was not a good environment for him to continue gathering information.
As an informant, there should be no blood or tears.
You should always thoroughly collect accurate information and try not to include your own subjective opinions.
But at the same time you shouldn’t give up being human, Hakam thought.
People’s negative emotions were filling the cathedral where the requiem had been flowing.
‘Let’s stop at this point.’
Blanc came because he had a personal business anyway, and with this amount of information, you would think he didn’t stop working.
Moreover, the information may not have any value since Jeto, who could be said to be the main figure in the information, is already dead.
The moment when Hakam, touched by such a thought, was about to turn his foot.
ㅡ Puck.
I bump into someone.
For such a small church, the crowd was quite large, so it could have happened.
“…Sorry.”
Hakam hurriedly lowered his head and apologized.
But there was no answer, so he raised his head.
“…”
Instantly, Hakam’s eyes capture the image of the woman who bumped into him.
“Oh…”
After checking the woman’s face, Hakam had to calm his startled heart.
She tried hard not to give the feeling that she had figured out who she was.
The silver-haired woman wasn’t looking at Hakam.
Her body staggered and she seemed lost, but her eyes were fixed on the direction of the coffin.
The woman in front of him, wearing a black robe, was a person comparable to the former ‘sword saint’ in terms of her reputation.
‘The saintess…Why…’
The innocent saint, Bernice.
‘In this place…?’
I hid my identity and stepped into Jeto’s funeral.
So many people of influence XD.