Ch. 229 - Start of the Semester (4)

Chapter 229: Start of the Semester (4)

If you head south along the great river that cuts through the Waning Moon Plains, you’ll come across the villages of the Black Cat Tribe and the Yua Tribe. 

Historically, those two tribes had been at odds with each other, frequently clashing over territorial disputes... But the explorer Kayla knew a significant secret about the relationship between those two tribes.

And that was,

 "Ah, this is the taste I’ve been craving!"

When you brew a drink by mixing musk coffee cultivated by the Black Cat Tribe with black beads grown by the Yua Tribe, it created an extraordinary vodka.

"What a unique human."

"Does that taste good?"

"Tsk. Tsk."

The villagers of the Black Cat Tribe clicked their tongues as they watched Kayla drinking musk bead liquor on the ground in broad daylight.

"It's a pity they don’t know this taste."

Wanderer.

Or drifter.

Or explorer. Or a homeless person.

Or... Time traveler.

She loved wandering the world aimlessly, but due to some circumstances, she was stuck in the Karacornia Mountains for a long time. 

It had been decades since she last tasted foreign liquor. 

Thanks to meeting some girls with a special destiny, she successfully completed her 'business' in Karacornia and returned to wander the Waning Moon Plains, spending her days acquiring and drinking various liquors.

The Waning Moon Plains was densely populated with various tribes, each having its own distinct drinking culture, allowing her to taste a wide variety of liquors. This was why she loved this place so much.

‘Hmm. Something feels a bit different compared to the last time I was here.’

Somehow, the cultures of these tribes seemed almost unified, as if a powerful ruler had appeared and united them all into one group. But that wasn’t a major concern.

"As long as the liquor tastes good, that’s all that matters!"

Returning to the Waning Moon Plaisn, Kayla wandered around, enjoying strong liquor all night long. 

She frequented places known for their famous liquors or where she could brew her own.

With her bronze skin and cheerful demeanor, she would strike up conversations with anyone and make light-hearted jokes, easily making friends with the tribes. This was her secret to getting free drinks without spending a dime.

About a week passed like this.

"Ugh... What the...?"

One day, as usual, Kayla woke up on the street after drinking herself into oblivion. She wiped the drool from her cheek.

"Ugh. Hangover."

Her head throbbed as if someone was hammering her skull. Struggling with nausea, she realized that she was in a very unfamiliar place.

She didn’t like the look of it at all.

Kayla had the [Eye that Sees the Past]. She always witnessed the 'history.’ Because of this, she avoided places where bad incidents had happened long ago. 

On battlefields, she saw the vivid sights of countless people dying, and in places struck by disasters, she heard the screams of people in anguish. 

No one could endure such sights and sounds with a clear mind.

"... I’m out of liquor too."

Even though her stomach churned with the hangover, she wanted to quickly get drunk again to stay in a daze.

Struggling to her feet, she looked around. 

This place was a cold, desolate ruin with no sign of life. 

Even though she had been drunk, how did she end up here?

The city had been destroyed about half a year ago. Until then, it had been a lively city full of laughter. 

One day. Suddenly.

A mana power plant collapsed. 

The moment the power plant that supplied the city with magical energy exploded was vividly imprinted in Kayla’s eyes.

No matter how much she wanted to avoid it.

No matter how she turned away.

No matter how she closed her eyes.

The echoes of the past kept tormenting her.

"... Sigh."

Kayla plopped back down and grimaced as she felt her head throbbing.

'The concentration of mana crystals in the air is dense... Is this place contaminated by mana radiation?'

Mana was beneficial to all living beings when it existed in an intangible state. 

However, the moment it crystallized, it transformed into a deadly wave that devoured life energy.

"It seems like it’s been about fifty years, yet the concentration is still this high..."

If an ordinary human were to enter, they might succumb to mana poisoning, and bleed from all orifice. 

If it was this bad now, how horrific must it have been back then?

Kayla walked quickly through the ruins. She no longer wanted to stay in a place that ruined her mood...

However.

She had to stop when she saw the profile of someone blocking her path.

A man with gray hair tied in a ponytail was looking at the ruins with indifferent eyes.

"It was a horrific disaster."

Kayla instinctively drew her staff from her cloak and pointed it at him. 

From the end of her staff, a silver chain dangled with a pocket watch swinging on either side.

The gray-haired man turned his empty gaze to Kayla.

"A fragment of the Silver Autumn Moon... Still, you’re wasting your time. I see."

His voice was heavy and cold, almost soulless.

Meeting his gray-eyed gaze, Kayla gulped dryly. The pain from her hangover had long since vanished.

"Hah. Time is always on my side. Is there any reason for someone as grand as a Twelve Divine Moons to be overseeing a mere fragment like me?"

The Ashen Fall Moon. 

A man who could manipulate the space of the world. He was perhaps the most strange entity in existence.

Despite the creeping fear, Kayla boldly retorted.

"I heard you left Aether World. What brings you back? Missing the mages, are you?"

"... Fragment of the Silver Autumn Moon."

"Why don’t you just call me Kayla?"

"Alright, Kayla."

He gazed past Kayla, or maybe somewhere beyond, with his gray eyes.

"What vision are you seeing here now?"

"What...?"

Kayla frowned.

He knew about her ability. So what was his intention in asking such a question?

"Just... A horrific scene."

"You must be seeing the tragedy from fifty years ago."

"Is there anything else to see?"

When Kayla deliberately snapped, Ashen Fall Moon lowered his voice, responding almost as if reciting a spell.

"The tragedy from fifty years ago is not the only past. The moment you stumbled in here drunk last night is also the past, and the moment a weed struggles to take root in the cracks of the ruins is also the past."

"Why do you have to twist obvious facts into such complicated words?"

"A hundred years ago."

Kayla’s eyebrows twitched. She wondered what had happened a hundred years ago besides the tragedy from fifty years ago, and tried to see the scene from that day.

"Two hundred years ago."

"Five hundred, and then a thousand years ago."

Ashen Fall Moon stared piercingly into Kayla’s silver eyes.

"The limit of the past you can see extends exactly that far."

"Oh..."

He was right. 

Thinking back, since she received the 'eye that sees the past' from Silver Autumn Moon, she had never tried to see the past a thousand years ago.

Because.

It was impossible.

However, with no intention to concede to Ashen Fall Moon, Kayla gritted her teeth and shouted.

"Isn't that obvious? The Twelve Divine Moons were born that day!"

"No. It’s not obvious. Despite being able to manipulate time, have you never wondered why there is a limit?"

She hadn’t. 

She had never been happy with this ability in the first place, so she never thought deeply about it.

"That’s not really important."

"It’s important. The fact that the fragment, more precisely the entity known as Silver Autumn Moon, can only see back exactly 990 years into the past.”

“Nine hundred and ninety years...?”

“Yes.”

That was the exact figure. 

The limit of Kayla’s ability to see the past was indeed 990 years. 

But why, of all numbers, was it 990 years and not a thousand?

“What exactly are you trying to say...?”

As he kept forcing thoughts she didn’t want to know into her mind, it started to become distressing. 

She could live without knowing such facts. She just wanted to drink every day and find her own happiness.

“Destiny has begun to take a turn. You too must return to your rightful place.”

“You realize that’s basically telling me to die, right?”

“Death is not the end.”

“You’re so blunt because it’s not your end, isn’t it?”

"You need to return to your place."

Suddenly, the atmosphere around Ashen Fall Moon changed drastically. 

The bright, clear sky and clouds turned entirely gray, and Kayla felt her breath catch in her throat.

"Yet, this time... you resist destiny more than ever."

Ashen Fall Moon tilted his head as if genuinely puzzled or displeased by Kayla’s defiance, and approached her.

“What drives you to act like this?”

“W-What...!”

He looked up at the sky, realized his mistake, and withdrew his aura. The weather turned bright again in an instant, but Kayla was already far from normal.

“No matter. It’s fortunate that Silver Autumn Moon is a coward. He even split his memories into fragments and hid them away.”

“Kuh. Ugh!”

As Ashen Fall Moon withdrew his power, Kayla collapsed to the ground, coughing violently. Tears welled up, and her whole body trembled.

Fear. Beyond mere fear... This was the emotion of someone who had glimpsed death.

'Is this the end for me?'

Kayla closed her eyes. She had just been freed from the Karacornia Mountains and thought she could finally travel freely. She never expected to be stopped like this.

"Return to your place and fulfill your role."

As Ashen Fall Moon grasped the air, Kayla’s body was sucked into another space and disappeared.

Whoosh!!

He stood there, staring blankly at the spot where she had vanished 

“... As it has always been.”

Step.

Turning away, Ashen Fall Moon slowly walked through the ruins.

Because of the foolishness of Silver Autumn Moon, he had always endured these hardships but always failed.

Yet, knowing he would fail, Ashen Fall Moon repeated the same attempt this time as well. 

It was his duty and mission given to him.

Having perfectly completed his task in this place, Ashen Fall Moon traversed to the other side of space.

He had returned the fragment of Silver Autumn Moon to where it belonged, so now it was left for Silver Autumn Moon to find it and absorb it according to destiny.

… But he did not know.

“Hm. Playing Go alone is not fun.”

That the Silver Autumn Moon was acting completely against his expectations.

Or more precisely—

“I suppose I should go play poker instead.”

That the Silver Autumn Moon was doing absolutely nothing at all… something that the Ashen Fall Moon could never have imagined.

Destiny was starting to turn around.

Slowly, subtly, yet… dramatically, because of a small being.

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