LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 47
047.
“Hmm… It’s the same, or rather, is it different…?”
Blamia murmured as she inspected Kalen’s back.
The pattern emblazoned on his back resembled Sinat’s.
The mark of the so-called ‘Kal Dragon,’ proof of a contracted elemental spirit.
Not entirely identical to the symbol on his wrist, but from a hazy glance, one might not notice the difference.
The problem was that this was a unique marking.
Kalen, who wasn’t an attribute-contract mage and didn’t have a contracted elemental spirit, had no reason for it to appear.
The cause had to be one thing.
When Sinat’s elemental spirit climbed onto Kalen’s back, it did something suspicious enough for the imprint to burst out.
For now, it was the best explanation.
Had it been exactly the same, one might have been able to understand it.
After all, it would simply mean the mark was identical to the one left by the elemental spirit that contracted with Sinat.
But the mark, similar yet different, was too far from being exactly the same.
The task was originally to hear in detail the plea to save Sinat, but unresolved mysteries continued to pile up.
As a result, the pain left on his back remained.
Was he finally starting to get used to the sensation coming from his heart?
The pain that had almost been getting accustomed to seemed to recur.
“Does it not disappear?”
“Yes, it’s almost like a contract mark.”
The contract marks refer to the symbol that contract-attribute mages have on their wrists, like the one on Sinat’s wrist.
The marks that appear on the wrist due to mana cannot be erased.
The mark only disappears if the contract with the elemental spirit is invalidated or one of the parties dies.
This was the reason why it was incomprehensible for Kalen, who hadn’t contracted any elemental spirit, to have it appear on his back and not on his wrist.
Despite employing basic bathing methods and even some magical attempts by Blamia, not a single stroke of the mark on his back disappeared.
“Is it still the same?”
“Mm…”
Calling out Sinat’s elemental spirit would bring the same results.
If anything, it was worse than before.
Until then, it seemed like the spirit was merely trying to keep a hidden secret.
Now, it appeared to be giving in, as if even it had nothing left to say.
“Haa…”
It seemed his body had become nothing more than a canvas.
Kalen looked at his disfigured self in the mirror.
The scars concentrated on his right side alone were hideous enough.
Add to that the darkened heart, fine lines, and the symbol visible on the mirror from his back.
It was worse than someone who’d seen decades of battle.
With a throbbing headache, he clung to a faint lead.
If the elemental spirit’s response to his inquiry about the dangers facing Sinat was through this symbol, then they were at least somewhat related.
That was why the spirit must have appeared so lifeless.
Kalen turned his gaze to the girl who was interrogating her elemental spirit.
The boy could objectively observe his own feelings.
Ever since returning, the oppressive atmosphere that had begun with Sinat’s changed demeanor had taken root.
It was the fear of the unknown.
The girl’s face turning pale with anguish was something he’d rather avoid at all costs.
*
For a while, the commotion that had disturbed his mind calmed down.
Without any meaningful progress, it simply meant that the time had passed and things had returned to how they were.
The three people could only helplessly tolerate the uncomfortable thorn in their chests.
With the active cooperation of Lacatus and Hiart, the Dranunus family was on the verge of revival.
Attempts to break through the third tier were heating up.
In truth, one might argue that there was no real need to rush like this.
The giantess Blamia didn’t want to repeat her past mistakes.
Since leaving the house when she took her granddaughter, Dranunus had become a form of attachment remaining behind.
It wasn’t her desire.
But Blamia, despite all this, accepted Lacatus’ proposal and grasped the attachment called Dranunus solely due to her granddaughter Sinat.
If there was any desire, it would concern Sinat.
Even if the revival of the house would bring back Sinat’s dead parents and older brother, for Sinat, the Dranunus name meant a family she had.
By returning it, Grandfather was making amends for taking it away.
The hurry was motivated by that reason.
Since Sinat too desired to continue the family line, there was even less reason not to do so.
A thorn and an attachment.
In such a way, Dranunus was planted within Blamia.
Had it not been for Sinat, she probably wouldn’t have entertained the paradoxical idea of reviving a house brimming with guilt.
Even though they had lived well in their small cottage, when Lacatus made the proposal, she couldn’t refuse.
Somewhere down the line, she had planned to debut in the social circles, but leading the house was a different matter decided then.
A future that should have been filled with happiness…
It was the penance of the grandfather who had taken that future from his granddaughter.
“Haa… Haa…”
Mostly delicate, her granddaughter was clearly overexerting herself.
Being unable to properly stop her was also part of this meaning.
After unleashing her own greed on her grandson and older brother, Sitram, taking away the happy future intended for Sinat, she could no longer hypocritically tell her to slow down.
Of course, Blamia knew well that Sinat would never say such things.
But if this nightmare were so easily dismissed,
It wouldn’t have lingered long enough to lower her to such a degree.
The effort to not repeat past mistakes
simultaneously made her repeat them.
It was unbearably heartrending.
Blamia turned her eyes to another nightmare.
The little one, standing at a distance, watching her,
whose mind was undoubtedly brimming with immense worries.
He must be deeply concerned about the impending danger foretold for Sinat.
In truth, such favors could be repaid with a mere nod.
When they last checked, somehow he had awakened tier-three combat magic, so surely now he could leave and fare well.
But the boy kept offering to help despite sacrificing himself.
It was thanks to him that her granddaughter had survived,
but every time it happened, it felt like the nightmare was repeating itself.
The more injuries that piled up on Kalen’s body, the more it seemed like his own doing for picking him up all those years ago.
If Dranunus were reborn,
if Sinat were to reclaim the happy future that should have been hers,
would this ailing heart be healed?
“…Let’s start again, shall we?”
Blamia, her eyes closed,
only wished for her granddaughter to return safely home.
*
“If anything happens, shout.”
“Okay, sleep well, Kal!”
“You too.”
The sound of the wooden door locking.
The girl with a smile collapses onto the bed.
“What’s this ‘you too’…?”
Well, something about wishing for sweet dreams.
There were certainly pretty things one could say, weren’t there?
Even just saying “sleep well” in return would’ve sufficed.
Realizing that the boy had never said “sleep well” in the usual way before dawned on her.
No, perhaps it was better this way.
She didn’t know what exactly the danger was that her elemental spirit, the Kal Dragon, had warned about, but somehow Kalen seemed increasingly concerned for her.
“Hi~.”
Her body felt weighed down as if hundreds of stones were piled on.
Her head hurt as if it might explode at any moment.
And yet, just that realization was enough to sustain her.
What about the embrace she got by saying she was tired?
The boy looked at her with worry, as if it didn’t matter how sweaty she was.
It was dizzying, as if she were becoming addicted.
As the girl, lost in reminiscing about his expression with her head buried in the pillow, suddenly remembered something, she hurriedly rose and rummaged through a small drawer.
Reaching deep into a corner, she finally pulled out a thick notebook.
Lying carelessly on the bed, she flipped to the last page and began scribbling.
Perhaps due to her focused state, the smile that had graced her face before seemed false now.
Though her short nails scratched painfully, arranging something in the notebook was far more precious to her.
By the time her arm grew numb from her awkward position, she turned over, lifting the notebook.
“…”
She raised it once into the air.
The girl brought the extended arm back, covering her mouth with the notebook.
“Hi.”
Though her expression was hidden behind the notebook,
On the first page of the thick notebook,
Was written [Kalen].
*
Understood.
The first words uttered by Kalen after borrowing Sinat’s mirror and staring at his back for a long time were precisely that.
Despite his neck feeling quite stiff, it was undoubtedly worth the time.
He realized that the symbol etched onto his back looked like the one he’d seen by the Hiart Mountain cave’s entrance.
It wasn’t exactly like Sinat’s, but it was exactly the same as that in the cave.
Since the situation had been so urgent back then, what was embedded in his memory had little room for error.
While scrutinizing differences might show some discrepancies,
Kalen shook his head.
He couldn’t possibly forget what he’d tried to memorize to avoid forgetting when he returned.
The contract symbol etched onto his back had to be the same.
At the thought, it again felt as if an obstructed path was appearing before him.
The emblem at the cave’s entrance, the seal that lay within it.
Considering the possibility of other royal spirits at the time,
he began to wonder if this, too, was somehow related.
“Could it have something to do with the monster I killed?”
The cool sensation on the back of his neck.
It made his fatigue vanish, so surely it was linked.
Except for the premise that it was an imprint of Sinat’s elemental spirit, everything matched well.
Fortunately, there hadn’t been any apparent danger to Sinat this whole time.
Kalen immediately picked up the mirror again and left the room.
The tingling he had felt before heading to Hiart.
He had attributed it to his mood then, but now, it clearly had some connection.
Kalen, fiddling with the back of his neck, set out in search of Sinat.