Chapter 6 : The Dream Dreamt Again

Chapter 6: The Dream Dreamt Again

By the bed where Ransen lay, Daisy was lost in old memories.

Back when Ransen had still been healthy.

Those broad, strong shoulders that had always protected them.

At that time, Ransen had been the strongest man in the world, and Daisy’s greatest pride.

That was why.

Why it hurt so much to watch his back, now frail and pitiful.

Why it made her want to die of shame, seeing him struggle every night, secretly coughing up blood, yet still fighting with everything he had just to protect them.

Why her heart shattered into pieces, watching him cast aside even his pride for their sake.

But in the end, what she truly could not bear to see—

Was Ransen lying there, like a dead man.

When she saw him breathing so shallowly, as if death would take him at any moment,

It felt as if Daisy’s small universe was collapsing.

“Not yet…! I’ve only drunk half!”

Oppa…?

Daisy instantly jerked upright.

It was Ransen’s voice.

She quickly leaned over the bed.

She fixed her eyes on his pupils.

The once-cloudy gaze gradually focused.

Words poured out of Daisy’s mouth in a rush.

“Oppa, you woke up…? What happened! What was that! Why did you suddenly disappear! Why were you covered in blood!”

Ransen looked bewildered.

He just stared at Daisy blankly.

“…What, why are you looking at me like that?”

When the silence dragged on, Daisy, feeling weighed down by his gaze, glanced at him uneasily.

Ransen asked.

“You just called me Oppa, didn’t you?”

Daisy’s face flushed bright red.

“W-what are you talking about? When did I?”

But without changing his expression, Ransen just kept studying her face, and then abruptly asked again.

“You cried, didn’t you?”

“W-what?”

“Your eyes are red, your cheeks are swollen… This o-p-pa must have worried you a lot, huh?”

“!!!”

Insane, he’s lost his mind!

But still, no words of denial came out of her mouth.

“Wh-why!”

And again, Ransen only stared intently at her face.

“Ah! Why do you keep looking at me like that!”

“Just trying to remember this moment.”

“Remember?”

“Yeah. You look really ugly when you cry.”

A brief silence passed.

Swipe—swish—

Slowly, Daisy wiped her eyes and smoothed down her disheveled hair. Then, she grew terrifyingly calm.

Fwoosh!

In her eyes, red flames suddenly blossomed.

It was proof that she belonged to the nobility of the Banroa Kingdom.

When emotions grew intense, flames would bloom deep within the pupils—this was a trait of Banroa’s royal family and nobility.

It wasn’t easy to notice unless you looked closely, but in darker places, it showed just a little.

Daisy smiled brightly as her pupils blazed.

“Want to say that again?”

“……”

Sensing danger, Ransen quickly turned his gaze away.

“Hey! I said say that again!”

Daisy lunged at him like a demon.

Ransen immediately curled his body up and let out a wail.

“Ah, ow, ow… I’m dying. I’m really dying…”

Daisy, who had just been rushing in, froze mid-step.

Her fingers, once sharpened like claws, now only flailed helplessly in the air.

“Pfft…”

Seeing that, Ransen let out a laugh.

He shook with laughter, his shoulders bouncing up and down.

“You…!”

Fwoosh!

Daisy’s eyes blazed even brighter than before, burning twice as fiercely.

“Hey!!!!”

“‘Hey’ is too informal…”

“Do you know how worried I was!!”

“I know. Thanks, Daisy.”

Ransen ruffled Daisy’s hair.

He looked happy.

In truth, it had been a very long time since Daisy and Ransen had shared such silly banter.

Not since three years ago, after Ransen had lost his arms and legs.

Daisy forgot her anger for a moment and instead grew wistful.

She wanted to say more, anything at all, just to keep talking to him, and so she drew in a breath…

“Huh… ra?”

Suddenly, Ransen staggered.

“Oppa!”

She caught his body in alarm, only to feel burning heat radiating from him.

His body was blazing hot, like a furnace.

“Ugh…”

He curled up, as if wracked by terrible pain.

“Oppa!”

From Daisy’s eyes, long dried of tears, a flood burst forth once again.

Ransen, his hands trembling, slowly stroked her hair.

Daisy instinctively met his gaze—and shuddered.

“Oppa…?”

It was uncanny.

Ransen’s face was twisted with agony, but his eyes were overflowing with rapture.

Madness…?

Daisy was terrified that something had gone terribly wrong with him.

Then Ransen spoke.

“Daisy. I think it’s starting to work.”

“What?”

“The medicine. It’s taking effect.”

“What do you mean?”

In a voice feverish with heat, Ransen spoke words Daisy couldn’t comprehend.

“I can feel it.”

“My hands and feet are tingling.”

“It feels fresh.”

“I’m coming back to life.”

…Oppa?

Has he really gone mad?

Ransen’s delirious rambling didn’t stop.

“I thought just one sip wouldn’t be enough…?”

“But it was plenty.”

“It’s not a dream… it was real.”

Oppa, what’s wrong with you…

“What are you talking about?!”

Then, Ransen grabbed Daisy’s shoulders with those burning hands.

“Daisy. Listen closely. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“What are you saying?”

“You don’t have to think about protecting our family anymore.”

“W-why are you suddenly bringing that up…!”

Startled, Daisy stared at Ransen.

“You knew?”

“I know everything in that little head of yours, you tiny thing.”

“No…!”

“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

“Uh…? Huh? Oppa. The light…”

At some point, a brilliant radiance began blazing along Ransen’s body.

Daisy did not know.

The Elixir, the medicine of life.

A miracle from ancient times, long forgotten and impossible to reproduce with present-day magic,

Was manifesting here and now.

Swaaa—

The bright, blazing light flowed into Ransen’s right hand, his left leg, and his lower abdomen.

Particles of light, shining gloriously, began to take form.

“Huh? Huhhh…?”

Daisy’s pupils widened.

Sssrrrk.

His right hand—once severed and gone—slipped out from under the blanket and was stroking Daisy’s hair.

His left leg—once nothing but emptiness—was reborn within the glowing light.

“Oppa’s body…?”

“Yeah. I’ve come back.”

Daisy’s eyes opened wide.

That smile.

The confident smile hanging from Ransen’s lips… was the precious sight she had longed so desperately to see again.

With just that, Daisy felt as if she possessed the whole world.

Ransen.

Her brother, who once seemed able to withstand even if the entire world stood against him, had returned.

“Now, don’t worry about anything.”

Thump.

“Oppa? Oppa!!”

Ransen fainted again.

With that pleasant smile still lingering on his face.

*         *         *

Blink.

When I woke, the sun had already set, and the surroundings were dim.

“How long… has it been?”

I asked reflexively, and the gruff voice of Uncle Burson answered.

“Not even a day yet. That happened in the morning… and now it’s evening.”

Ah…

I slowly looked around.

“…Everyone’s gathered.”

My family filled the space around me.

Now, the only knight left—Burson.

And the siblings who had escaped with us from the Banroa Kingdom: Daisy, Mika, Zepetto, Asha, Zaltran, and Seha.

Except for the five siblings who had departed on a journey to seek a new stronghold, these were the last heirs of the Banroa Kingdom, all gathered here.

It had been a long time since we were all together like this.

The children had grown, and lately, everyone had been busy carrying out their own responsibilities.

“It’s real. Both your hands and feet move now.”

Someone spoke in a choked voice.

“A miracle… it’s a miracle… it really is a miracle!”

Uncle Burson suddenly began to weep.

I also looked down at my hands and feet again.

No longer prosthetics, but my real hands and feet.

With a broad grin, I clenched and unclenched my right fist before them, then wiggled my left foot.

And beneath my navel, the Aura Core…

“My core has recovered too. I’ll still need to gather back the scattered aura, though.”

When I said that offhandedly—

“Oppa!”

“Oppa!”

The children rushed at me all at once.

“Wah! W-wait, wait!”

It wasn’t like when they had been little kids.

Back then, it felt like chicks swarming around me… but now, those surrounding me were all grown adults and nearly-grown youths.

It was like the pressure of a herd of water buffalo charging at me.

Even so, the smile never left my lips.

After the brief storm of that emotional reunion had passed—

Burson straightened his rumpled shirt and tie, then asked.

“Ransen, what on earth happened to you?”

“I drank an Elixir.”

“Elixir? The one they say a single sip costs more than fifty thousand Dallon?”

The people around me buzzed in shock.

Yeah. What more explanation did they need?

I’d just show them.

I placed my hand on the bed and stood up.

“Well, wait. Before that, there’s something I want to check. Everyone, come with me.”

“Check? Check what?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”

I stepped onto the ground with my newly restored left leg.

Crunch—

Ahh… it was moving.

Not the dull pressure of a prosthetic biting into my shin, but the sensation of my own flesh and blood pressing into the earth.

This feeling proved it.

That I had truly gone back ten thousand years, and that I had drunk the Elixir.

‘Though I’ll probably need rehabilitation.’

My stride was still a bit awkward.

I walked carefully, then pulled on my coat.

Inside its folds, I felt a small wooden box.

The Elixir that had been inside was gone, but the gray key beside it still remained.

‘If it’s a key discovered in an ancient dungeon… there’s only one thing it could be.’

I knew this well, having heard it countless times while working under Count Kxias.

“Where are we going?”

Thud—thud—

Of course, the place we headed was the Ilneon Dungeon.

A dungeon I had seen countless times before, but which somehow looked unfamiliar today.

I remembered it gleaming like something brand new… yet now, it was decayed, buried in dust.

Step, step. Tap.

I walked deeper into the dungeon and stopped at the chamber where the altar stood.

Memories resurfaced, one after another.

‘I’m sure the Elixir had been placed up there.’

And behind it, the guards had been especially strict.

Why had the security been so heavy?

That was what I intended to confirm now.

‘Keys discovered in ancient ruins… are always for opening secret spaces!’

I opened the wooden box.

The gray key still lay inside.

‘As expected.’

The key gave off a faint resonance, as if affirming my suspicion.

I slowly approached the wall.

“Ransen. What in the world is going on?”

Burson asked what everyone else was too curious to say.

Instead of answering, I raised the key and pressed it into the wall.

Fwaaah!

In an instant, a magic circle spread across the wall like wildfire.

The dungeon, once filled only with faint, misty light, shone as bright as midday.

Thump.

In the brightness, I saw the dumbfounded faces of those around me.

“Wh-what is this….”

Beams of light blazed forth in midair.

Layer upon layer, the overlapping magic circles grew ever more intricate until at last, they formed the shape of a door.

Click!

The moment I turned the key,

With a clear sound, the magic circle split open to both sides.

Rrrrumble!

With a thunderous roar, an entire section of the dungeon wall opened up.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

My heart pounded like crazy.

“…A secret chamber?”

It was a sight that inspired awe.

A hidden realm, sealed away for ten thousand years, now unfolded before my eyes.

Whatever magic it was, beyond the wide-open wall, everything remained brightly illuminated even after ten millennia, and the treasures sparkled as if new.

Chests stacked high with gold coins.

Three swords.

A thin, black armor made of metallic material.

A necklace I recognized.

Burson, staring blankly at the heap of coins, clicked his tongue.

“This alone… just the gold coins must be worth five thousand Dallon.”

One Dallon equaled ten grams of gold—so five thousand Dallon was fifty kilograms of pure gold.

Asha, who had lately been helping a lot with running the business, added her voice.

“Uncle Burson, that’s not the point. These are all ancient relics. Ancient swords. Ancient armor…! And that necklace is a magical artifact! My god… with things like these, the price is whatever you ask for!”

Exclamations of awe burst out in every direction.

For a while, everyone was entranced by the treasures. Then, all at once, they turned to me.

“Oppa! What happened?”

“Yeah. First your arms and legs suddenly regenerated, and now this….”

I laughed.

I couldn’t stop laughing.

“I went to this place, ten thousand years in the past.”

“What?!”

Everyone’s faces screamed, *what on earth do you mean?*

Honestly, I could hardly believe it myself….

Thump.

When I touched my chest, I could feel a hard book pressed against me.

If the power of this relic wasn’t a one-time use…

If I could return to the past again and again?

A shiver ran down my spine.

‘I can achieve it all.’

Whether to rebuild the Banroa Kingdom,

Or to forget everything and just live happily and safely with my family,

Whatever it may be.

But before that… there was something I had to do first.

I’d wrestled with the decision for a long time,

But thanks to these treasures I’d just found, I could finally make up my mind.

“Guys.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s take down Count Kxias.”

“What?!”

This time, everyone’s jaws dropped open.

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