NOVEL WEB Chapter 100
“…Did Laris say things like that?”
The woman, without shifting her gaze from the necklace, spoke.
A voice filled with regret and apology.
This revealed that her gaze was not merely fixed on the necklace.
“Yes. If you’re aware about the necklace, you might already know… I am Laris’s mother.”
The woman then approached Laris, who seemed to be sound asleep.
She gently enveloped the hand clutching the necklace.
“And… it was also thanks to this necklace that I was able to leave the cave.”
Though this seemed like a story out of place in the flow of events,
Kalen surmised that her words were not much different from what he sought.
For this reason, as he listened quietly, the woman began gently caressing Laris’s hand.
“You said you lured Laris—and him—here.”
“…I remember.”
Unlike before when her true identity was uncertain, it was now revealed that the incomprehensible being standing before him was indeed Laris’s mother.
From the banquet hall at Eclaysia, through the inn, the carriage, and the mansion to this very place,
the relationship Kalen had formed with Laris thus far was far from superficial.
Most of all, the love Laris had shown towards her mother,
and the affection now displayed by Laris’s mother herself, made it feel inappropriate to speak casually.
The woman smiled as if appreciating Kalen’s attitude.
“Though reaching the fall has never been easy, it’s not that I can leave this cave at will.”
“The entrance wasn’t exactly blocked.”
“This place is my creation—an illusionary space. Let me put it plainly—this is a space where souls can reside.”
“So…?”
“Yes, I am already dead.”
Laris had visited this place to bury her mother.
Therefore, her mother was already deceased. It wasn’t difficult to understand that a space where souls could reside was involved.
However, the reality of this space eluded Kalen’s understanding.
Though Kalen, who had overcome numerous extraordinary adventures, understood,
the fact that a soul of a deceased person could exist so vividly and that someone could artificially create a space for a soul to remain was hard to believe.
“Is it hard to believe?”
“To be honest, yes.”
“I understand. I only managed to create it after I died, and even then, it’s not in a perfect state.”
Setting aside the fact that such a space had been created,
if Laris’s mother had indeed built this place, it seemed odd that she could not leave it.
However, if the illusionary space was indeed imperfect, as she said,
or, if what Kalen had unconsciously pondered was correct…
“Imagery…”
“Dear me, how did you figure that out…?”
There existed, in this world, something incomprehensible yet recognizable—much like this illusory space.
Imagery.
The sublime and majestic thing that every mage yearned for, deeply intertwined in magic.
“I truly admire how you grasped the imagery so quickly…”
When it came to understanding imagery,
perhaps there was no one who could rival Kalen.
Even the great mage Blamia, famed for her magical talent, might fall short to Kalen’s understanding of imagery.
Eliana, Serasie, Sinerate.
The world of elementals, Kalen’s own shadow realm.
There were so many instances that it wasn’t surprising Kalen had a profound understanding of imagery.
But it was impossible for Kalen to revisit all those memories one by one, so he simply brushed it off.
“…I’ve been heavily involved with imagery personally.”
“I understand. Though I’m curious, I won’t pry further.”
Satisfied that she had thoroughly caressed Laris’s hand,
the woman turned her head toward Kalen while still holding Laris’s hand warmly.
Though the woman’s strange face could have been startling,
Kalen wasn’t particularly taken aback.
And seeing this, the woman continued comfortably.
“You are correct. This place is akin to a form of imagery.”
“Did you create the imagery?”
“It’s somewhat different. When I was alive, I was a slave but had a talent for magic.”
It was a rare but plausible story.
Though magic is often thought to be the exclusive domain of the nobles, commoners with magical talent do occasionally surface.
It’s only that such talents rarely come into the light.
Though Kalen felt this was a story that didn’t quite fit his own background,
Laris, for instance, exhibited talent in scholarly magic.
A well-known tale in high society, so Kalen had no trouble understanding the woman’s explanation.
With that thought, Kalen naturally asked.
“Scholarly magic?”
“…It seems like my daughter has told you quite a lot, hasn’t she?”
“…”
Upon hearing this, the woman’s face, though it didn’t flush, betrayed an expression that suggested she might have been quite embarrassed.
“Ho ho… Just kidding.”
The woman covered her mouth out of habit and continued speaking.
“In any case, you’re right. Scholarly magic differs from other attributes. It seeks the essence of magic—in this case, this imperfect illusion’s imagery is a result of it.”
Incomplete but astonishing.
Imagery, by definition, is the personal world that a magician awakens to.
The very fact that it exists materially and in reality is astonishing.
“And so, I was able to bind my soul to this place. Though I couldn’t leave it.”
Truly an incredible tale.
Kalen listened carefully to this amazing story and responded cautiously.
“Regret?”
A comment that could be viewed as very impolite under certain circumstances.
But this was the core of the woman’s words.
Without an answer to this question, the woman’s words would merely be self-aggrandizing.
Apparently understanding this, the woman remained silent for a while.
Perhaps pondering, she lowered her hand which had been covering her mouth ever so gently.
“Is it not strange?”
“…”
“Though I mentioned that I cannot leave the cave, you met me on the cliff. I even said that I lured the two of you here to this Crystal Cave.”
When Laris had come to bury the necklace,
the figure seen on the cliff was undoubtedly the woman standing before them.
“I should answer this first. You asked whether it was regret, right? Yes, it is. The fact that I created this illusionary imagery even after death and bound my soul to it—this is indeed regret.”
Kalen looked down at the sleeping Laris.
The woman’s regret—only one thing came to mind.
The woman, Laris’s mother, naturally.
“The regret of leaving my daughters behind, the guilt, and the regret. These kept my eyes from closing even after death and enabled me to remain in this bizarre form. And…”
The woman moved her hand and grabbed Laris’s necklace.
The scene where mother and daughter held hands with the necklace in between was striking.
Laris, though asleep, had a very peaceful expression on her face.
“For reasons unknown to me, when the two of you, carrying the necklace, broke through the water spray and arrived here, I realized immediately. I realized that I could leave the cave to meet my daughter and her guest.”
In short, it was like this:
Laris’s mother had remained due to her regret for her two daughters but was bound within the realm she herself had constructed.
When Kalen and Laris, carrying the necklace, reached the Latia Waterfall, she was released from that binding.
Whether the necklace acted as a physical medium,
whether Kalen, as an “exceptional being,” had brought about some change,
or whether the yearning between mother and daughter had created a miracle—no one knew.
“Isn’t it like a mirror?”
“If you’re talking about the stones… yes, they look like glass.”
“Perhaps because it’s a place where souls can dwell, this space reflects the essence of beings. Strangely, it seems to be useless for you, but others would likely become honest with their hidden hearts.”
Kalen recalled Laris’s “therapy.”
Though he had thought it was strange at the time, perhaps Laris had become honestly aware of her inner self.
Why Laris’s inner world took that particular form, however…
“And… this is my greed, but…”
While Kalen was contemplating this, watching the mother and daughter holding hands,
the woman gently took the necklace Laris was clutching and hung it around her own neck.
Right then,
Hwoaaak-!
The quartz-like crystals of the cave, shimmering like mirrors or glass beautifully, suddenly began to glow brightly.
The dazzling, light-flooding brilliance that appeared when the woman hung the necklace around her neck lit up the world in pristine white.
Kalen squinted his eyes against the sudden burst of light.
As the light gradually faded, he could open his eyes again.
And when he opened them,
“Ahh…”
There was Laris.
No, Laris was currently sleeping soundly with her head on Kalen’s lap, so it wasn’t Laris.
The woman.
The strange-faced woman with an expression of sorrowful weeping.
This woman transformed into another woman who strikingly resembled Laris.
The woman absentmindedly reflected her own figure on the surrounding stones, seemingly disbelieving.
This reaction indicated that she hadn’t expected this result when she put the necklace on.
After gazing at her appearance for a while, the woman slowly moved.
As soon as she had regained her original form, her first action was to lean over toward her sleeping daughter.
Kalen quietly watched her.
Finally leaning over, the woman gently and tenderly cradled Laris in her arms.
“Laris…”
The woman’s hands and eyes began to tremble.
Her eyes were clear gray, unlike Laris’s.
And with those pure gray eyes,
she gazed upon the daughter she had longed for so desperately.
Soon, tears welled up in her eyes.
Without letting them flow freely,
yet with an expression that wouldn’t have been noticed when she still had that strange face,
she embraced her daughter not just with her eyes but also physically.
Kalen supported her back to make it easier for her to cradle Laris.
The happiness she was feeling now was clearly evident from the expression on her face as she held Laris, her eyes closed.
And then,
“…Mm…”
Finally, the sleeping princess from some third-rate drama awoke.