“As soon as I get out, I’ll run straight to the village chief and confess everything. By tomorrow morning, I’ll come back with people and fix it all up properly.”
He blamed himself, banging his head against the wall. As Anya hurriedly stopped the man, someone whispered rapidly inside his head.
‘We can’t let such tragedies happen anymore, can we? Anya?’
The layered voices came rushing in all at once like waves, making his head spin.
‘Right, Anya?’
‘You’re dying to save someone. Come on, it’s okay. There’s someone right there who needs your help.’
Anya shook his head roughly and immediately reached his hand toward the magic device. Because an intense desire so powerful he couldn’t resist swallowed the boy whole. The orb was tinged with gray. It probably represented the attribute of the magic power flowing through this land. He didn’t know the specific method of how to dismantle it. He was just reaching out his hand, drawn by an intense desire.
‘Ah… wait… is this really okay?’
For a moment, the small hand that touched the orb hesitated. Because Riario and Karen’s faces suddenly came to mind. Worry took precedence—whether it was okay for him to break the magic device they had worked so hard to install. But when a tremendous headache that felt like his head would split came over him, that worry also quickly disappeared like foam.
“…Is it still far off?”
“J-just wait a moment.”
Anya straightened his body that had been curled up from the headache and looked up at the magic device again.
‘Anya, if you save this man, you can gain recognition from the people of Northernmost. Even if the fact that you’re descended from Claicer blood is revealed, they’ll never forget your contributions.’
‘Evernight will also recognize you as a useful human.’
That was what Anya desired most. The unknown voice endlessly listed the rosy life Anya dreamed of.
When Anya’s hand finally touched the gray orb, the orb sensed the magic power and shone brightly.
Right, that’s it. Human life is more precious. Riario probably would have saved the person from Northernmost too. After all, aren’t magic devices installed to protect people in the end? Later, when reinstalling the magic device, he could help him with all his might. He could explain it well to Evernight too.
‘Evernight will also recognize your contributions later.’
Once again, a voice of indistinguishable gender whispered in the darkness.
“Mage-nim!”
The man inside the barrier kept calling Anya, driving the boy’s mind into a distant haze. Anya’s hand, which had shown hesitation, finally pulled out one of the orbs embedded in the magic circle without hesitation. The rippling gray light instantly disappeared with a pop. The orb in his hand rapidly lost its light.
“Thank you.”
At the same time, the man lifted his hammer and began smashing the barrier from the inside. Perhaps because he had regained hope, the man was full of strength. After widening the hole to some extent, the man squeezed through the gap. He repeatedly bowed to Anya in greeting. Most of the Northernmost people’s clothing was shabby, but this man’s was worse. Through the torn fabric, his skin that had turned blue could be seen. The man looked like he could collapse and die at any moment.
“Are, are you alright?”
“Yes, of course. I feel better now than ever before.”
The man burst into laughter. He bowed to Anya as if prostrating himself, then disappeared, saying he would return home now.
“I hope we can meet again… Mage-nim.”
The man stopped while walking, as if he remembered something, turned around and grinned. The man smacked his lips and disappeared into the darkness.
‘Why….’
Anya rubbed the bristling fine hairs on his forearm and trembled.
‘Why am I here?’
The small shadow illuminated under the moon that hadn’t yet fully waxed was soon swallowed into the massive shadow of the barrier. Among the houses and trees shrouded in darkness, Anya belatedly realized he was holding something in his hand. The orb that had lost its light.
The boy’s flustered gaze lingered in turn on the magic circle that had stopped working and the barrier that had developed a gap.
‘This… why….’
Unfortunately, Anya couldn’t remember what he had done. Instead, an extreme anxiety that he had messed something up came over the boy. A faint memory rose up in the thick fog but quickly disappeared along with a splitting headache.
Anya staggered and moved his steps toward the inn.
* * *
Fortunately, Evernight hadn’t returned by the time he returned to the inn and washed. Because he would have to confess about going to visit the Northernmost people today when he returned, Anya lay in bed waiting for him without sleeping. The hearth fire burned down, dimly illuminating the room. Anya gazed at the night sky outside the window in the faint darkness.
‘I hope we can meet again… Mage-nim.’
Then some afterimage of a memory intensely passed through his head. Anya jumped up from his spot, startled.
How could I have forgotten about that?
Anya, engulfed in shock, began anxiously pacing around the bed. Fear suddenly assaulted him, thinking that perhaps the mad heredity of the Claicer imperial family was slowly activating. Most of his siblings, starting from adulthood, either went mad and died or preserved their lives—they chose one of the two paths.
Anya bit his nails and struggled to carefully recall what he had done.
That man… right, I met someone in distress near the barrier. The memories connected jaggedly. Did he arrive home safely? He must have met his child again. But… how did he know I was a mage?
“Ugh…!”
The belated realization caused pain that felt like his head would split in half. Anya curled up his body tightly and collapsed onto the bed. Huff, huff, rough breaths burst out. The strangeness he had felt when sending the man off was still vivid. Anya crossed his arms and hugged his trembling body.
This anxiety is probably from the guilt of disobeying Evernight’s orders.
‘It’s not because of Claicer’s cursed heredity. That heredity can’t come to me. I’m a half-wit. It can’t be.’
Anya soothed his wildly beating heart and resolved to confess the truth to Evernight, Riario, and Karen.
‘Right, then everything will be resolved.’
Just then, the firmly closed door opened. Evernight entered the room, shaking off snow. He stared for a moment at Anya, who was half-lying awkwardly on the bed, then sat in a chair and dismantled his shoulder plates one by one.
“U-Um… E-Evernight-gyeong….”
Anya ran to Evernight in one bound.
“What?”
Anya was looking at him somewhat busily, reading his mood. When the last breastplate he dismantled fell to the wooden floor, a heavy sound rang out. A breath not yet refined burst out as a cough from the mouth of the boy who was startled.
“……”
Evernight stood up from his seat and looked down at Anya. The man who had rolled around all day in the fierce snowstorm looked a bit sensitive and prickly. His sharp gaze looked like it could pierce flesh at any moment.
“I, I….”
It was when he barely opened his mouth, grasping at the precarious thread of memory that seemed about to break.
“That story already ended.”
He said with an irritated sigh. Perhaps because of the poor meals and sleeping arrangements since coming here, Evernight’s jawline had become even sharper, giving off an atmosphere that was completely unapproachable. His rough exterior seemed somehow familiar. When he had secretly visited his room right after the honor duel, Evernight had been sharp like this then too… and somehow dark… and exhausted… Anya’s gaze instinctively turned toward the window. The moon was gradually waxing fuller.
“Why are you looking out the window?”
Evernight asked back irritably. He drew the curtains as if the moon was detestable.
“There’s, there’s a lot of snow, so I was wo-worried about the village pe-people.”
Anya stammered much more severely than usual, overwhelmed by the man’s low mood.
“How ridiculous. What difference does it make if someone like you worries?”
Evernight criticized the boy caustically without any particular change in expression.
“I gave you leeway thinking you were just a kid… Anya, does this place seem like a world you can knead however you want?”
“Th-that’s not it…!”
“Damn Claicer bloodline.”
Evernight muttered a curse in a low voice. At the word ‘Claicer,’ Anya made a face like he was about to cry at any moment.
Evernight swept up his wet hair and rang the bell placed on the table. Soon the innkeeper came running hurriedly. The innkeeper read the mood in the cold atmosphere, then at Evernight’s short command, ‘Prepare bath water,’ practically ran down the stairs. The silence didn’t last even a few seconds. Anya spoke toward Evernight with his trembling hands hidden behind him. Fear and resentment had given the boy courage.
“Th-that’s not true. I have no intention of doing as I please, and it’s not ch-cheap sympathy ei-either.”
“……”
He roughly dry-washed his face.
“You, you said I was a person of Ti-Tildyen… didn’t you?”
In the end, he blurted out words blaming him out of upset feelings. When coming to Northernmost, he had said that since he too was a person of Tildyen, it wouldn’t be bad to go together. What was that statement then, that I’m like this now….
-gyeong (경) – (Korean honorific suffix, equivalent to “Lord” or “Sir”)
