Chapter 222, I’ve Been Very Patient (4)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

Unexpected and sudden events.

 

Bern’s life had been that way, and Bern’s death had been that way. The life that began as Kalian had been that way, and even now, everything continued to arrive suddenly without warning.

 

Of course, wasn’t everyone’s life like that? Nevertheless, Kalian could say with confidence that he had been invited more abruptly into an unannounced life than anyone else could compare to, and everything about the life he had lived in between had been sudden.

 

So wouldn’t it be alright for him to suddenly summon someone for once? Wouldn’t they indulge him and come, pretending they couldn’t refuse, if he dared to seek them out on his own whim just once? He had thought this. It was a vague and baseless faith in the thoughtful Syspanian.

 

But once again, it was Kalian who let out a bitter laugh at the sudden result.

 

“It seems I’m always the one who’s surprised.”

 

When the palace door opened and Kalian saw an unfamiliar shadow in the now completely familiar interior, he unconsciously said this.

 

There was no answer in return.

 

Since he hadn’t spoken expecting a response anyway, Kalian first bowed his head in greeting.

 

“I am honored to meet the supremely great Syspanian.”

 

It was toward a single black cat sitting with elegant form on Arcus Tempus, which still no one could approach.

 

Perhaps because he had already experienced something similar once before, though with a different appearance, greeting a cat that had none of the presence that life possesses didn’t feel particularly strange.

 

The cat, whose black body seemed to shimmer with black light, raised ruby-red eyes that looked as if the most beautiful rubies in this land had been carved and set in them, and looked at Kalian. Kalian’s mouth, meeting those eyes, drew a long arc.

 

[A cat?] He had understood the meaning of the black butterfly, but why a cat this time?

 

He could not understand the reason.

 

Therefore, Kalian stood still for a moment, looking at the black cat with its proud bearing, completely different in color, behavior, and atmosphere from Luci, who always approached and rubbed against people’s feet whenever she saw them.

 

He could not gauge it.

 

The black butterfly had signified death, but the black cat signified nothing.

 

He knew that Allan sometimes called Kalian a black cat with red eyes. However, that was just a nickname Allan, who had recognized Kalian with his claws hidden, had given him, and it didn’t have any other significant meaning, did it?

 

“I wondered if you would welcome this as well.”

 

Syspanian’s quiet answer came, as if she had understood Kalian’s inner thoughts. It was a sound whose direction was difficult to discern.

 

“I’m not sure what meaning might be contained in a black cat.”

 

Kalian asked back, wondering if perhaps there was another meaning passed down only in Cyries.

 

The cat slowly blinked its large eyes once.

 

An answer came once more from an indiscernible direction.

 

“It is as you know.”

 

Kalian slowly blinked his red eyes following the cat.

 

It meant that the black cat had no particular meaning, just as he knew. In other words, she was curious whether he would welcome the form of a meaningless black cat the same way he had on that day when he saw the black butterfly.

 

“…Ah.”

 

Kalian, who needed a moment to interpret this, silently sought someone.

 

Great King Harts-ara.

 

[I did come to ask something first, but I’m regretting it as soon as I asked.]

 

[I manage to understand what my older brother says reasonably well, but I can’t adapt at all to Lady Syspanian’s vague way of speaking. So, Your Majesty Harts-ara, Did you really understand all of her words and converse with her? No, before that, did the two of you actually have what could be called proper conversations?]

 

[If you can hear me, please give me an honest answer sometime. I seem to be experiencing difficulties somewhat similar to yours. Because of the gene for brevity that seems even more powerful than the blessing.]

 

“Since I came seeking you, how could I not be pleased?”

 

Of course, he couldn’t voice his long complaint toward Harts-ara aloud, so a perfectly normal answer came from his mouth.

 

[Could it be that this Ancient Dragon missed someone who could welcome her regardless of what form she took? Could it be that because the one person who could welcome her in any form was no longer there, she came in this strange appearance asking this difficult-to-understand question?] He set aside these thoughts that suddenly occurred to him.

 

After all, if the thought Kalian had happened to be correct, wouldn’t that in itself be an excessively cruel thing?

 

For one who cursed being forgotten had sought one who would curse not being forgotten.

 

“Moreover.”

 

Soon Kalian added a word while neatly organizing and pushing away the endlessly continuing thoughts.

 

“Whatever form you take, your essence is the same, so how could any appearance be different to me?”

 

Whether it was a black butterfly, a black cat, the form of a black Dragon he hadn’t yet seen, or the form of a woman she had always shown. All of them were Syspanian, so how could he distinguish between being pleased or not pleased by whether there was meaning or not…

 

[…Ah.] Now he understood.

 

Kalian, who finally understood Syspanian’s meaning thanks to the thoughts rising again, bowed his head slightly.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Syspanian.

 

Truly thoughtful Syspanian.

 

It seemed she had heard today as well the voice of one who was losing what was inside.

 

She had spoken that way to teach him that outward appearance wasn’t important, that the meaning left behind long after passing through people’s mouths wasn’t important, and that only what was inside mattered. She had taken that form for this purpose.

 

She had thus come in a form without any meaning.

 

“You always give me teachings.”

 

The cat’s red eyes moved slowly once more. Feeling it was like a smile, Kalian smiled back.

 

“You seem to have many thoughts today as well.”

 

“Since I came at the end of my thoughts, they continue unavoidably.”

 

“I see.”

 

With a soft sound, the cat descended to the floor with light movements.

 

As he looked down briefly, thinking that the way those paws came together resembled Luci’s movements exactly, the black cat whose hind paws touched the ground was immediately surrounded by light.

 

Just as the black butterfly had done before, this time a small universe gathered around the black cat with red eyes. Before long, the cat’s shadow lengthened and created a familiar form.

 

When he was watching the round cat’s paws transform into slender shoe tips, he suddenly heard a voice right beside him. It was a voice and manner of speaking that felt a bit more familiar today than at their first meeting, and more than on the day they met the second time.

 

Strangely, it was the kind of words that brought Chase to mind.

 

“Do not grieve too much over being forgotten. When not being forgotten is also sorrowful, if you grieve over being forgotten as well, it becomes difficult to fully understand what more there is to grieve over. Just consider it a little unfair.”

 

The red eyes saying this resembled Kalian’s own so closely, looked equally sorrowful, that Kalian couldn’t say anything and only gave a short answer.

 

“Yes.”

 

It was because he couldn’t say he was also sorrowful to the Ancient Dragon’s words, still trying to understand herself saying that missing what she longed for was sorrowful. It was because he couldn’t bring out any words of comfort while looking at those red eyes that clearly still missed the one who had departed.

 

“I will do so.”

 

He was comforted by that human-like appearance that showed him this wasn’t a world where only he was sorrowful. Though she probably hadn’t intended it, Kalian was comforted. Though it wasn’t a path he had sought for comfort, he received comfort once again this time.

 

Finally, a laugh emerged.

 

“Speak. I will listen.”

 

Syspanian, who had looked directly into Kalian’s heart the previous two times and answered by drawing out what he hadn’t spoken, was now asking Kalian to speak first this time.

 

Kalian, nodding slightly, voiced his question.

 

Syspanian, hearing that question, made a small laughing sound.

 

“Quite strange.”

 

After a long while, Syspanian, who began speaking this way, turned her eyes toward Kalian.

 

“You resemble him.”

 

To Kalian, who in fact had no relation whatsoever to Harts-ara, Syspanian conveyed this impression first instead of an answer.

 

That he resembled Harts-ara.

 

“In what way do I resemble him?”

 

Flustered by the words that he resembled the neighboring country’s founder rather than his own unknown ancestor, Kalian asked a question, unable to predict whether this meant what it meant or whether it was a compliment or not.

 

“In that you both seem to lack reason.”

 

It was not a compliment.

 

* * *

 

He had not particularly intended to keep track of Kalian’s every move.

 

“He is conversing with the First Prince at Chermil Palace.”

 

But Rerik had said this.

 

It seemed he had conveyed it out of concern that Kalian and Randel being together might harm Plants, but Plants wasn’t curious at all.

 

“I apologize. Prince Kalian came to Heisia, so I was delayed while keeping watch for a moment.”

 

Moreover, adding insult to injury, he heard this story as well.

 

It was through Nidlen, who had agreed to help with work alongside the two Deputy Commanders starting tomorrow.

 

Since Kalian probably hadn’t visited secretly anyway, he couldn’t consider Nidlen’s mouth loose. The problem was that he wasn’t curious; the one who spoke wasn’t at fault.

 

Right.

 

He definitely wasn’t curious.

 

That crazy younger brother whose thoughts were unknowable made a grand plan to backstab Serenty, then met Randel and went to Heisia Palace.

 

*Ha…* [How could I possibly not be curious after hearing that? What kind of trouble is he planning to cause now by going so far as to meet Syspanian?]

 

Having thought that far, Plants let out a short sigh, turned the last page of the document he was looking at, and set it down.

 

With a light sound, Plants pushed back his chair and stood up from his seat. Arsene, who had been setting aside work to hand over to Nidlen starting tomorrow after sending her away, looked up and asked.

 

“Where is Your Highness Deputy Commander going?”

 

“I have nothing to do.”

 

At those words, Arsene looked out the window.

 

The sun hadn’t even fully set yet. Even so, he just said he finished his work and was leaving, that whether the Mage had to work overtime or not did not matter to him…

 

Arsene, who forcibly shook off the feeling that such words were echoing in his ears, quickly opened his mouth.

 

“I was asking where Your Highness the Deputy Commander is going.”

 

Plants, who would normally have retorted asking why he wanted to know, turned his head to look at Arsene.

 

Looking down at Arsene with the kind of eyes one uses when regarding a life form to which one doesn’t want to attribute any meaning beyond breathing in the same space, Plants’ mouth opened.

 

“To catch my younger brother.”

 

Having properly shut Arsene’s mouth with words he seemed unlikely to hear in his lifetime, Plants headed out of the office with leisurely steps.

 

* * *

 

The rain had stopped.

 

What a strange thing.

 

Could it be that Syspanian also disliked rain, and that’s why she stopped the rain that fell each time she came like this? Having such worthless thoughts for a moment, Kalian came out from underground at Heisia Palace with a chuckle.

 

There was someone who looked like an unripe tomato left out to dry.

 

It was obvious why he had come. Therefore, Kalian, who had been silently staring at that head that still seemed to give off a fresh green scent, quietly opened his mouth.

 

“I won’t cause trouble.”

 

Plants, hearing words that didn’t even bother to hide the tone of being annoyed to death, stared at Kalian intently without any other answer. Since he was someone who couldn’t lie, either he really had no intention of causing trouble, or he himself didn’t think it was ‘trouble’. It had to be one or the other.

 

“What is it?”

 

“If you know, you’ll interfere again.”

 

“My little brother only does things beyond control.”

 

There was no point in holding out and not saying it when it was obvious what he would say anyway.

 

As long as he didn’t untie what was bound to his heart, how could he win an argument against that greenish fellow?

 

Therefore, Kalian opened his mouth with a short sigh.

 

“What the King of Secritia wants is a healer, isn’t it? He’s calling me along under the pretext of summoning healers, but in any case, what he wants is to cure that illness.”

 

Seeing the lengthy preamble, Plants’ face hardened, certain he was planning to cause trouble. Because what was revealed in that expression was obvious, Kalian continued speaking without stopping.

 

“Anyway, if the King of Secritia is going to tempt the Elves, I need at least one advantage to prevent him from doing other things. So, I went to see Syspanian. I asked her to tell me where the Elves’ ‘Mother Tree’ is.”

 

Then Lady Syspanian laughed.

 

Having said this, Kalian grinned broadly.

 

“What are you planning to do by going there?”

 

“I’ll use what I learned from the King of Secritia. Since negotiation is off the table, I only have the next step.”

 

Then Lady Syspanian cursed at me.

 

Adding this once more, Kalian smiled brightly this time.

 

Plants’ eyes narrowed.

 

It was because he knew all too well that he was so excited because he had finally heard the answer he wanted to know from Syspanian about where the Elves’ Mother Tree was.

 

“What are you planning to do by seeking the Elves’ guardian deity?”

 

To Plants, who was looking at him with eyes full of distrust and asking, Kalian, who was properly fulfilling the role of ‘crazy younger brother’ in this insane sibling relationship, calmly delivered his answer.

 

If negotiation doesn’t work, then it would be the next thing.

 

“Trees burn well, do they not?”

 

Plants closed and opened his eyes briefly.

 

He immediately caught on to what Kalian was thinking.

 

The crazy bastard was planning to use that incomeless Mage again.

 

If negotiation doesn’t seem to work, then the next thing.

 

Blackmail.

 

He was clearly planning to blackmail the Elves.

 

He had definitely made plans to send well-packaged Luci stool to the King of Secritia, holding the Mother Tree hostage.

 

“Ha.”

 

Plants, having reasonably grasped Kalian’s plan, let out a sound of understanding with a chuckle. Unbelievably, this time it was with the meaning that he had no intention of stopping him.

 

The sky where the rain had cleared turned red.

 

Plants, who glanced at it briefly, looked at Kalian’s equally red eyes and opened his mouth.

 

“It really should burn well.”

 

Whether Rmain, who had ended up with crazy and insane sons, grabbed the back of his neck or not.