Chapter 82 : Prologue

Chapter 82: Prologue

Time flowed swiftly.

With the sudden addition of four cities, work came pouring in.

Even that fifteen-year-syndrome Mika Seitous was being pushed hard, spending all day buried in tasks.

It was one of those afternoons when everyone was struggling to carry out their own duties.

I, however, was leisurely flipping through a book.

The very first page of the Book of Fate.

[Prologue, one-time]

It was a new emblem that had appeared beneath the epilogue after my visit to Lorraine’s Laboratory.

When I touched it with my hand, explanations about “origin” and “miracle” surfaced in my mind.

“Hm… should I try it?”

I hesitated.

I had no idea what function it served.

I wondered if it might fling me back into another grueling past again.

“But now’s the right time to try.”

After fighting successive wars and battles, I had secured four cities—Ilunael, Kinalo, Kashu, and Kushan.

The situation in Norberju was abuzz, like a disturbed hornet’s nest.

Yet, there was no imminent threat at my doorstep.

It was the calm before the storm, so to speak. Fierce underground struggles were ongoing, but no immediate force of arms was needed.

Because of that, the busy ones were Seah and Rivera, not me.

“Looking at Norberju as a whole… we’ll only be able to respond or prepare properly once things become clearer. Even narrowing it down to Ailun, there’s nothing urgent I can do right now.”

The Ailun region had five cities in total.

The largest, Ilunael, was already ours, and two of the remaining four had expressed their intent to surrender.

The role of the Seven Champions of the Storm was significant here.

Torban of Thunder’s Roar was a noble holding absolute support in Eginasi, while Serinne of Quick-Kill and Ionis of Sky-Charge had full control over Loensi.

I heard that negotiations were already concluded and that our administrators were in the process of taking over duties.

That side posed no issue.

‘The problem is… the other two cities.’

One had openly declared an independent course, while the other lingered indecisively, simply biding its time.

Gellan City and Rundna City.

I needed to resolve those two, but raising the army immediately felt burdensome.

With the sudden increase in population and territory, we too needed time to consolidate our internal strength.

Also, if we blindly began with conquest, lingering factions of dissent could fester into future trouble.

In many ways, more thought and preparation were necessary.

‘Which is why now is the right time.’

A great storm was approaching.

The divided Ailun region.

The anxiety and dissatisfaction that the lords of Norberju felt toward me.

This was bound to erupt into a full-blown issue sooner or later, and when it did, I would once again be forced to run ragged.

If there was ever a time to act, it was now.

Before I got swept away in the storm and left floundering.

I brushed my fingertips once more over the emblem symbolizing the prologue.

The explanation echoed in my head.

[An incomplete miracle of meeting the Origin]

Not a single word made sense.

Incomplete?

Then what did it mean for something to be complete?

Origin?

The origin of what?

Miracle?

Was meeting the Origin itself supposed to be a miracle?

‘As expected, I don’t get it. Guess I’ll just have to try.’

That was the only way to find out.

‘Well, since it’s called a miracle, it shouldn’t be a bad thing, right?’

Yes. I made up my mind.

I placed my hand upon the emblem of the prologue.

With an earnest wish.

‘This time, don’t take too long. And don’t make it too brutal!’

[Prologue is now in use.]

Along with the businesslike voice of a woman—

“Uh… wha…?”

Thump.

I slumped forward onto the desk and fell asleep.

*         *         *

‘…A dream?’

Swordmasters always dreamed lucid dreams.

By habitually checking my senses, I could quickly tell whether this was reality, dream, or illusion.

It was a pitch-dark dream.

The surroundings were shadowy like smoke, and in the middle of it sat a little girl, crouched down and crying.

‘She’s crying so bitterly…’

Her whole body trembled as she wept with deep sorrow.

I worried she might cry out every drop of moisture from her small body.

Her hair was white, tinged ever so slightly with pink.

That pretty hair swayed pitifully along with her shaking shoulders.

‘Ah… this is a weakness of mine.’

Even though I knew it was a dream… I couldn’t help myself.

I mean, a child was crying.

Right before my eyes.

A child was crying!

“Hey, kid. Why are you crying?”

I approached and asked casually.

Children often cried harder if you treated them with too much kindness.

Calm, yet gentle—that much was just right.

“Who are you?!”

The child quickly wiped her tears and glared at me.

Oh… was she from a noble family?

The sharpness in her questioning carried a certain dignity.

Now that I noticed, her clothing looked almost exactly like the robe Lorraine had worn.

White, with pockets, and reaching down to the knees.

Somehow it lent her more dignity, but… at the end of the day, she was still just a child.

“I’m Ransen. Want to eat this?”

I rummaged through my pocket.

Since it was a dream, I could pull anything out of it.

What I took out was a snack from the Age of Magic.

Crunchy, tangy, and sweet—something no child could keep crying after tasting.

But this one didn’t even glance at the treat I held out.

“This is my dream. How did you get in here?”

What was this kid talking about? It was my dream.

Though I explained calmly, what came back was a firm denial.

“No! This is my dream!”

What a stubborn kid…

Those sharp eyes. Daisy had looked just like that when she was little.

“Fine. Let’s say it’s your dream. So why are you crying?”

There was nothing to gain from a battle of pride with a child.

I slyly opened the snack and slipped it into the little one’s hand.

“It really is my dream though….”

Muttering, the child absentmindedly began to nibble on the snack.

And then—her eyes widened into round circles!

“It’s delicious!”

Her tears stopped, and her cheeks flushed red with pure joy.

That was it! This was exactly why I carried snacks around.

“Right? Tastes good, doesn’t it?”

“I’ve… never eaten anything like this before.”

Huh? Never before? She seemed like a noble’s child. Why?

Did her household collapse?

The little girl frowned and protested to me.

“I’m not a kid! That’s why I usually don’t eat things like this!”

“You’re a kid.”

“No, I’m not!”

“How old are you?”

“…Eight.”

“See? You are a kid.”

“No! I’m… a ‘Hero.’”

Hero.

The weight and resonance in that word… It was far too heavy to be coming from a child’s mouth.

It wasn’t the usual kind of excitement children had when they said, “I’ll become a hero someday!”

Instead, it was soaked with exhaustion, worn-down resignation, and the responsibility she was barely clinging to.

For a moment,

I felt angry.

Even though I knew it was a dream.

I still felt angry.

“Why are you a hero?”

“Because everyone keeps asking me. Asking what they should do. And I have to tell them.”

“Adults? They ask you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then those are strange adults. Run away from them.”

The more I spoke, the hotter my head grew. But the little girl shook her head firmly and bitterly.

“I can’t run away.”

“Why not?”

“If the world is destroyed… everyone will be sad. Vishanti, Kerurus… and Hamek will get hurt even more.”

Vishanti. Kerurus. Hamek.

I had heard those names somewhere before.

Where was it?

Anyway, the child cherished those people deeply, and that was why she couldn’t run away.

“Man…”

I scratched my head.

“This kid keeps hitting my weak spot. I don’t like kids like you.”

At that, the little one trembled.

“What?! Well, I don’t like you either! Just barging into someone else’s dream!”

“What are you talking about? I dislike you way more.”

“Well, I dislike you even more than that!”

“I dislike you as much as the whole continent!”

“Then I dislike you as much as the sky—no! As much as the universe!”

Pfft.

Only then did the stiffness at the corner of my mouth relax into a smile.

“That’s better! Just like that. Act your age a little, will you? Don’t grow up too fast. It bothers me. It really does.”

I bent down on one knee and met the child’s eyes.

Looking closely, I saw a faint swell of moisture at the corners of her eyes.

Gently, as though cradling something fragile, I carefully wrapped the child in my arms.

Her small body trembled.

I lightly patted her little back.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“Hic…!”

The girl desperately held back her tears.

Yes. That was exactly what I hated and what made me ache. Why should a little child have to hold back her tears?

“Don’t carry it all alone. Try to trust the adults a little. Ah… how hard it must have been for you.”

“Khhuu… huu… huuuuk!”

Soft sobs began to escape.

Pat, pat.

I kept gently tapping her back as I spoke.

“And if it’s too hard, tell me. Those things that bother you? I’ll scold them all for you.”

“Huweeeeee—!”

Finally, the child broke down and wept, and I held her, whispering all the while.

“And from what I’ve seen, the world doesn’t end so easily. Even when the Mythic Era collapsed, the Age of Magic rose again. And when the Age of Magic perished, we opened the Age of the Sword… like that, it continues on, leaving its traces.”

…Was it because she kept crying?

I found myself becoming sentimental too.

It wasn’t as if she would really understand these words anyway….

I kept patting the child softly—until I woke from the dream.

I was slumped over the desk in my office. Not much time had passed.

Yet, for some reason, a single tear rolled down the corner of my eye.

‘What the…?’

Why was I crying? I brushed aside the first, most obvious question.

“Don’t tell me… that dream was the [Prologue]?”

Wasn’t it supposed to be a miracle, achieved by consuming Broken Causality?

I had been tense and full of expectation, and yet… all I got was a dream of some pitiful child crying?

Just as disappointment began to creep in—

Sssshk—

The Book of Fate began to change.

[The Book of Fate is updating.]

 Time travel will no longer be forced. It only activates when the corresponding record is read aloud.

 You can now choose your time-travel destination. Each level increases the number of available destinations by one.

 The time ratio between past and present has been adjusted to 12:1.

 An estimated duration for mission completion will now be displayed.

 Absorption efficiency of the Twisted Timeline has doubled.

 The level cap has been raised. Once the Twisted Timeline reaches its threshold, advancement to Lv.3 will become possible.

Messages streamed across the book’s surface.

Ten bars were etched onto the cover.

Four on the left were black, six on the right were white.

At the far right, the words “Lv.3” were written.

I understood it instinctively.

‘Ah… if I turn all those white bars black, the Book of Fate will advance again? To Lv.3.’

It seemed that Lv.3 hadn’t even existed before.

Each of the changes was astonishing and useful.

Enough to resolve most of the inconveniences and worries I had felt so far.

But… what I truly couldn’t understand was why these changes had happened all of a sudden.

All I had done… was dream?

‘What the hell is this…?’

There was no way to know.

*         *         *

A distant time.

The man hurried his steps from morning, all for the sake of serving the rarest among heroes—the “Hero.”

“Have you coughed this morning?”

As always, he asked cautiously from outside the Hero’s chamber.

“Mmm….”

Inside, buried in the bed, was a very small girl.

Her white hair, faintly tinged with pink, rustled under the blankets.

Soon, her little head peeked out.

It was the very child Ransen had seen in his dream.

The little one answered in a cracked voice.

She had cried so much in her sleep that her eyes and throat were both a mess.

“Uh… I just woke up.”

“Did something happen?”

Surprise colored the man’s voice.

Though only eight years old, that great “Hero” had always woken on her own, before he even came to rouse her.

And yet, why was her voice in such disarray?

“I just… had a dream.”

“What kind of dream?”

“Well….”

The girl fell silent for a long while, as if lost in thought.

And then, slowly, a smile spread across her lips.

“A dream from a far, faraway future.”

“…Pardon?”

The man couldn’t make sense of her words.

Clatter!

But already, the girl’s chamber door burst open.

Now wearing a white gown, the little one dashed off toward the laboratory.

“I think… I’ve found a way!”

“Wait, my lady! Running is dangerous!”

The man hurriedly chased after her.

But the girl ran with all her might, regardless.

Because she was the Hero, because she had to be the Hero….

That child who always hid her emotions now carried the bright, innocent smile of a girl her age.

Somehow, her mouth tasted sweet and tangy.

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