51. Memory (5)
A red oval barrier spread out around Isaac Morf’s body, broad enough to seem as though it reached the very edge of the sky. While constructing the Flame Spirit Circle, Hong Biyeon simultaneously activated the Compass of Memory she had kept hidden within her chest.
No mana leaks out.
No one notices.
‘Dual Casting.’
Casting two or more spells at once could still be too much for a mere 4-Class mage, but her concentration was exceptional.
Considering that Eizel, back when she was only 3-Class, had used “Transcendent Resonance,” something unusable unless one was a highly skilled mage of at least 6-Class, it was not, in a way, all that strange for Hong Biyeon to already be using Dual Casting.
Because their talent and effort were stretching endlessly upward, heedless of how high the heavens were.
Woooooong!!
The Compass of Memory, which pointed toward the direction of time, began to spin.
1 year and 4 months ago, 9 years and 7 months ago, 71 years ago, 34 years ago, 3 years and 6 months ago.
The times it indicated were completely jumbled.
That was because she still could not properly control the compass.
Most likely, all of those points in time were moments significant enough to have engraved themselves into the history of this place.
‘I need to find the exact time.’
She was always coldly realistic about herself.
This compass was not an easy artifact that some mere 4-Class mage could handle so casually.
If she carelessly brushed too far into the memories of the distant past, she might never be able to return.
‘It’s fine. My calculations are precise.’
She had prepared thoroughly for this moment. She loosened her hand from the staff just slightly and freely released the Flame Spirit Circle.
Its construction was already perfectly complete, so even if she no longer interfered, the Flame Spirit Circle would sustain itself with Hong Biyeon’s mana until the purification ritual came to an end.
From this point onward, she would look back upon the time of the past.
“Hup!”
Chrrrrk!!
As she forcefully poured mana into it, the compass spun more and more violently, and at the moment its speed finally passed the critical point—
…Flash!
A stark white light flashed before her eyes.
-Ah.
When she opened them again,
the wind was blowing.
A cold and dry autumn wind.
But it was different from the wind of the present.
Hong Biyeon slowly lowered her gaze and looked at the ground. The grand altar that had existed just moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Nothing remained there.
‘……I made it.’
There was no time to hesitate. The amount of time one could spend skimming through past memories was extremely short.
Having already consumed a tremendous amount of mana and mental strength to construct the Flame Spirit Circle and evade the binding spell, at best she would only be able to remain here for around an hour.
‘I need to hurry.’
While skimming through memory, she could not move simply by walking. Since this was, in the end, a process of tracing through the past’s “memory,” adjusting coordinates was necessary in order to inspect other places.
Thunk!
When she spent a bit of mana to move to an adjacent location, a barracks presumed to be a forward base appeared.
-This is…… the command barracks of the Morf magic corps?
Turning her head to look at a place a short distance away, she could indeed see the Adolevit stronghold, the Magic Tower, and even the tents of the Magic Society all at a glance.
‘I see.’
Back then, the magical world had apparently formed an alliance in order to subjugate the Black Mage Isaac Morf.
But……
Something was strange.
“Your Highness, please put your mind at ease and get some rest.”
“No. I’ll see the final preparations with my own eyes. A battle will be fought tomorrow at once—how could I possibly rest easy?”
-What……?
The forces gathered in this place were clearly here to eliminate Isaac Morf, yet for some reason the very target of that elimination was boldly walking among the allied troops.
-What in the world……?
“Your Highness.”
“……What is it.”
“You seem deeply troubled.”
“I am. I am worried about having to fight the Baekyoho Fire Spirit, and I still do not understand why the Princess of Adolevit is so obsessed with that magical beast.”
“Heh heh. If you ask me……”
Isaac disappeared into the command barracks in the distance while conversing with his adjutant, and Hong Biyeon remained where she was, chewing over their words.
‘The Baekyoho Fire Spirit……?’
Right. Come to think of it, Hong Si-hwa’s true purpose had supposedly been to awaken the Baekyoho Fire Spirit and hunt it.
‘Where is that woman?’
The time she had left was only a few dozen minutes at most.
Hong Biyeon rapidly moved by coordinate shifts through the spaces between the barracks, and before long she was able to find the place she wanted.
Her hateful second older sister.
Princess Hong Si-hwa’s barracks.
“It is done.”
Hong Si-hwa, with the upper half of her clothes partially removed, was receiving an injection of a red, ominous liquid. She could not analyze its components without opening her mana sight, but even at a glance it was obvious that it was no ordinary solution.
“……Good.”
Hong Si-hwa was drenched in cold sweat from head to toe, and to anyone looking at her, she appeared utterly weakened.
It was the first time in her life Hong Biyeon had ever seen such a frail side of her—the woman who always wore that detestable smile—and because of that, it felt deeply unfamiliar and even unsettling.
“The pain will not subside just yet.”
“……I don’t care if it hurts. So long as I don’t die, that is enough.”
And then, she said those words.
“I don’t want to become like my older sister.”
In an instant, Hong Biyeon’s expression hardened. To hear that disgusting face mention her eldest sister, Hong Erin, was no different from touching her reverse scale.
But Hong Biyeon was no longer a child. The days when she would flare up at each and every word out of Hong Si-hwa’s mouth had long since passed.
-Like my older sister……?
Her eldest sister, Hong Erin, had been born with the blessing of flame far too strongly. In the end, that blessing had instead become a curse, and at a terribly young age she had combusted and lost her pitiful life.
Hong Si-hwa and Hong Biyeon themselves were also destined to become the same, before long.
“Princess Hong Si-hwa. Do you truly believe that the Baekyoho Fire Spirit will hold a method to undo the curse of the Adolevit Brand?”
Only then, at the doctor’s words that followed, did Hong Biyeon finally understand why Hong Si-hwa had committed such a reckless act.
-She intended to defeat the Baekyoho Fire Spirit in order to find a possibility for lifting the curse?
Yes. That much was fine.
-But I heard she failed.
She knew because she had once secretly stolen and read Hong Si-hwa’s diary.
Hong Si-hwa had failed, and Isaac Morf would fall into corruption.
At that moment, Hong Biyeon suddenly recalled Isaac’s worry-filled face from earlier and immediately shifted her coordinates.
The place she arrived at was Isaac’s private barracks.
“I do not know……. Whether it is truly right to unseal the Baekyoho Fire Spirit now, for the safety of my house.”
“Your Highness. We will be able to subjugate the Baekyoho perfectly, so please do not worry. Princess Hong Si-hwa would not have come here without any sort of countermeasure.”
“Right. Just looking at the guts she had—to prepare this thoroughly at such a young age in order to blackmail a grand ducal house—she is certainly a child with something rotten behind her. In five years, no, even ten…… she will become an even more frightening mage.”
Blackmail.
He had definitely said blackmail.
Come to think of it, hadn’t Hong Si-hwa herself written in her diary that she had “blackmailed the Grand Duke Morf”?
-After this…… what happens?
The unsealing of the Baekyoho Fire Spirit was something she had never heard of in her life. She knew absolutely nothing about how that incident had been resolved.
-I don’t have time for this.
She had already learned most of the information she could obtain here.
Hong Biyeon hastily manipulated the Compass of Memory and adjusted the history she could glimpse to 12 hours later.
……Thump!
-Ugh?!
Right after that, the vibration that struck her whole body was so fierce that Hong Biyeon nearly lost her balance. She was only observing the past—she did not even possess a physical body here—yet the shock was so enormous that she felt as though she had almost fallen over.
……
Hong Biyeon lifted her head and let out a sigh of awe.
A world dyed entirely white.
Warriors collapsed in ruin.
The royal family and the grand ducal armies kneeling on the ground.
-How arrogant you are, descendants of Adolevit…….
It was taller than a mountain, steeper than a cliff, bluer than the sky, and lighter than the clouds.
At that moment, Hong Biyeon felt reverence toward that existence.
A being that had awakened the ultimate truth of flame.
A being that had gazed upon the end of fire.
Its chest blazed hotter than the sun, and it shone in the purest white, as though it meant to erase everything in the world.
Even knowing that she should not, Hong Biyeon could not help but admire it.
I want to burn like that.
I want to wrap myself in those pure white flames.
Even if I could not endure it and died, if I could become fire itself—
-……Ugh!
Suddenly struck by nausea, Hong Biyeon quickly shook her head and came back to her senses.
-This can’t be…….
Only then did she fully grasp the situation.
Even the 8-Class mages had all fallen.
The knight order had been annihilated.
The remaining forces could be counted on one hand, and even they were incapable of battle.
It was hopeless.
-Now that I have opened my eyes once more, according to the promise, I shall cover the world with my flames. Sit there and realize it, Adolevit.
After speaking those incomprehensible words, the Baekyoho Fire Spirit took a graceful step forward.
With each and every one of those steps, the whole world would no doubt be swallowed by pure white flames and returned to a blank page.
Even Hong Biyeon, who was only peering into memory, was so overwhelmed by the pressure that she could not move at all.
And then someone stepped in front of it.
Isaac Morf.
“You…… cannot pass… through here.”
Even though half his body had been melted away by flame, he still did not fall. But with a body like that, what in the world could he possibly do?
The moment that thought arose—
“I am not a descendant of Morf.”
Isaac Morf took out an unidentified black crystal and made that declaration.
“From today onward…… I will become a Black Mage.”
It was a truly desperate battle.
No—could it even be called a battle?
How was one supposed to describe, in human language, the sight of a calamity colliding against another calamity?
Ice and flame covered the world.
All life on this land crumbled and vanished.
And at the end of that battle,
the one still standing was Isaac Morf.
Was it a blessing, or a curse?
It seemed he had some small shred of reason left, for his eyes glowed with sorrow.
But if he were left alone like this, he would surely soon lose that reason as well and leave the forest, reducing the city to ruins.
-There is no such record…… in history.
But the magic corps had been annihilated.
Unless some miracle occurred and Isaac Morf stopped himself, there no longer seemed to be anyone left who could stop him……
No. No, there was one.
Hong Biyeon desperately recalled Hong Si-hwa’s diary.
[When I awoke again, both the Baekyoho Fire Spirit and the rampaging Grand Duke Isaac Morf had collapsed.]
[And before them stood an unidentified man.]
[He was a peculiar, mysterious man.]
[He wore a mask and held a silver staff in his hand.]
The moment she remembered that, a brilliant golden light suddenly burst forth from empty air, and a massive wheel appeared and began to turn.
-What is…… that……?
At the sight of that summon, one she had never seen before in all her life, Hong Biyeon widened her eyes and stared—
and only then did she notice him.
The man in black clothes who had appeared together with the wheel.
-Huh?
But his attire was strange.
He wore a pure white mask, yet his clothes looked bizarrely similar to Stella’s school uniform.
Even if it had not borne those distinctive patterns and markings, she would have recognized it at once.
Because to say it merely resembled it would not have been enough—the design was simply too identical.
And even stranger than that—
although she was certain she had never seen this man before today, for some reason his impression felt familiar.
-Wait, that unidentified man can’t possibly…!
Fweeeeeee!!!
A vortex of magical power roared.
Isaac slowly tilted his head and turned around to speak to the man.
“So, it is you, Baek Seolgi. Have you come…… to stop me?”
“Yes.”
She realized it.
That familiar voice.
That familiar outline of the body.
That familiar scent of mana.
-Baek Yuseol……?
The traits that belonged to Baek Yuseol alone, traits she had never once forgotten even in her imagination—
there was no way Hong Biyeon could mistake them.
“The me of this moment is in a very dangerous state…… Even so, are you still willing?”
“Didn’t you promise?”
Baek Yuseol said, leveling his sword at Isaac.
“That you would protect Eizel.”
“……I see. So that is what it is.”
What in the world was going on?
Why was Baek Yuseol in the past ten years ago, and what in the world did he mean by protecting Eizel?
-He’s not just some simple regressor…?
Isaac met Baek Yuseol’s gaze with sorrowful eyes and spoke.
“Then…… please stop me.”
And with that as the beginning, Isaac and Baek Yuseol collided.
That was…… not the Baek Yuseol Hong Biyeon had known until now.
At the very least, he possessed overwhelming power equal to 8-Class, perhaps even beyond.
He fought on equal footing against Isaac, who had been like a disaster itself, and in the end he even melted away Isaac’s frozen earth, which had seemed as though it would last forever.
It was something mysterious.
The ice could not harm Baek Yuseol.
As if he were under the protection of ice itself.
When Baek Yuseol aimed his sword at Isaac’s heart, Isaac closed his eyes.
If he simply thrust the sword into that heart, everything would end.
Hong Biyeon could not help but let out a sigh.
To think that the cause of Eizel’s ruin had been something that took place directly by Baek Yuseol’s own hand.
Pshhk!
Ignoring Isaac’s weak resistance, Baek Yuseol coldly pierced straight through his heart.
Unable to bear watching such a dreadful sight, Hong Biyeon was about to turn her head away—but suddenly, without properly finishing the act, Baek Yuseol pulled the sword back out.
-Wha?
Why didn’t he finish it?
Dudududududu!!!
The sound of horses’ hooves rang in from all directions.
The magic corps had sensed the black mana wave and were charging toward this place.
“Ugh……”
——
And in the distance, Hong Biyeon’s eyes caught the sight of Hong Si-hwa beginning to awaken.
-What are you trying to do……?
Baek Yuseol looked at Isaac and said,
“History cannot be changed.”
At those words, Hong Biyeon intuitively realized it.
The Baek Yuseol she was seeing now was indeed not standing here through any ordinary method either—he had come up through time by some special means.
“People will remember it like this. Isaac Morf became a Black Mage and rampaged. But Hong Si-hwa Adolevit stopped him.”
“What…… what are you doing……?”
As Baek Yuseol reached out his hand toward Isaac, the golden wheel spun violently.
“But in truth…… you will depart on a journey. This will be a fact known only to you and me.”
Something mysterious occurred.
A pure, untainted soul rose out of Isaac’s body, and then it was absorbed into the wheel.
In other words, Isaac’s soul had not yet died. It was still wandering somewhere in this world.
After finishing what he had to do, Baek Yuseol suddenly turned his head.
And of all places, Hong Biyeon was standing there.
Was it coincidence?
Or was he truly sensing the existence of her, even though she was only peering into memory?
Hong Biyeon felt as though she had met Baek Yuseol’s eyes directly.
But without saying a single word, he vanished, leaving afterimages behind. And by the time the magic corps arrived a beat later, Isaac Morf was already nothing more than a cold corpse.
And thus,
the “Myth of Princess Hong Si-hwa from Ten Years Ago” was completed.
Even though the one who had actually caused the disaster had been Hong Si-hwa.
Even though the hero who had fought it had been Isaac.
Even though the one who had calmed that hero’s rampage had been Baek Yuseol.
Hong Si-hwa stole all the credit.
-The time I have left……
There was not much time remaining now to continue peering into memory.
But she could not go back like this.
Because she still had not uncovered the final question.
She pushed time ahead one day at a time.
‘Grand Duke Isaac Morf is dead.’
‘Then why is such freezing cold still pouring out from the corpse? He must still be alive!’
‘Idiot! He is biologically completely dead! That magical power is of research value!’
One day passed, and the mages began arguing among themselves.
‘The disposal of the corpse is impossible.’
‘With the flames of Adolevit, it should be easy to burn it away!’
‘If Her Majesty were to come……!’
Another day passed, and until Queen Hong Seryu arrived to burn it, Isaac’s body was sealed as a temporary measure.
‘The Baekyoho met its death, and Grand Duke Isaac was sealed.’
‘And yet the white flames and blue ice still remain, throwing the forest into disorder……’
‘The forest’s magical power must be restored.’
Another day passed, and the forest began to be cleaned up.
And after quickly skipping forward through about a week of memories like that, she was finally able to witness the scene she had been seeking.
“We behold the brightest flame beneath the heavens!”
“Your Majesty!”
The magic knight order in crimson uniforms all dropped to one knee at once and welcomed the great Queen of Adolevit.
Queen Hong Seryu, who arrived riding a white horse, slowly swept her gaze over the ruined Morfran Forest.
Then she gracefully stepped down from the horse.
Smack—!!
Without warning, she slapped Hong Si-hwa across the face.
The princess’s head snapped sharply to the side and her body staggered, but she did not fall. She lifted her head again and faced the Queen.
“Have you arrived, Your Majesty.”
“Do you know what you have done?”
“Yes.”
“You are quick to the point. Bind Princess Hong Si-hwa at once, seal her magic, and throw her into the underground prison. Understand this well—the only reason I am not killing you on the spot is because I am extending the last mercy permitted to me as king.”
Hong Seryu was, indeed, very much like Hong Seryu—bold and without hesitation when it came to immediate judgment.
She knew perfectly well that dragging out the second princess Hong Si-hwa here would return the throne to Hong Biyeon, whom she despised.
But that did not matter.
One who had committed a crime deserved punishment.
If, because of that, Hong Biyeon became Queen, then that too would be her fate.
“Then, before you return, may I say one thing?”
Even though her punishment had already been decided, Hong Si-hwa met the Queen’s eyes directly with emotionless, deadened eyes.
“So you wish to make excuses. Fine. Speak.”
“You may seal my magic. You may even sever my head here on the spot. But there is one request of mine that I ask you to grant no matter what.”
“How impudent.”
“Isaac Morf…… Please do not burn his body. Preserve it intact.”
“What did you say?”
Hong Seryu’s eyebrow twitched.
Crack! Fwoosh!
The ground suddenly split open, and the nearby trees all began to burn away.
It happened merely because mana burst out in response to a single glance from Hong Seryu.
The hem of Hong Si-hwa’s clothes also caught fire and began to burn away, but she continued speaking as though she did not care about the pain.
“He inherited the blood of Morf more strongly than anyone.”
“And what of it?”
“Like Adolevit, the Morf family too is one born under a ‘curse of ice.’ But unlike us, they overcame that curse a very long time ago.”
Curse. Blessing.
The moment those sensitive words were spoken, Hong Seryu’s mana gradually subsided.
“And even in death, he has not fully died. Endless cold continues to seep out from his corpse.”
“Get to the point.”
“He is still alive. If you dispose of the body now, you will surely regret it.”
“Hah. And what if he revives as a Black Mage?”
“Seal him within the Flame Spirit Circle. If you do that, Isaac’s body will be preserved, we will gain Perpetual Cold, and he will gain the opportunity to be revived at any time.”
The Flame Spirit Circle seemed like quite a reasonable decision. Even if Isaac Morf were to revive as a Black Mage, it was the only magic capable of responding immediately.
Queen Hong Seryu pondered for a long while before making her decision.
“You would have me trust your crooked judgment once again? Drag her away at once.”
Clank!
The knights fastened heavy mana shackles around Hong Si-hwa’s neck, wrists, and ankles, then dragged her away. Yet even then, she continued trying to convey her opinion to the Queen until the very end.
“It is only natural that you cannot trust the words of one with no credibility. But please remember the longing I have carried all my life.”
“I, we, and our descendants…… forever inherit that terrible curse and must go on living within the flames. Your Majesty. Do you truly believe this is right?”
“Will you not be silent!”
One of the knights, no longer able to endure it, roughly yanked on the shackle around Hong Si-hwa’s neck in an attempt to cut her off—but she did not stop.
Until the very last moment, she desperately wished for Hong Seryu to grant her request.
“Simply because we are born as descendants of Adolevit, we inherit a curse, and there is nothing for us but short lives spent in the agony of burning in fire. If I can sever that loathsome fate by dirtying my own hands…… then I do not mind falling into hell. I do not mind becoming a demon.”
Thud!
In the end, after leaving behind those final words, Hong Si-hwa was struck unconscious by the knight’s hand and carried away.
Left alone in that place, Hong Seryu silently gazed off into the far distance.
“The weather is truly filthy…….”
It was a bright, cloudless day.
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