NOVEL WEB Chapter 101
“Ah…?”
Sha-la-sh.
The ashen-white hair softly descends.
The gaze shining through the strands is even clearer in color.
Perhaps she had eased the fatigue that had built up.
Laris slowly blinked her eyes and rose her body.
Laris herself had fallen asleep resting her head on Kalen’s thigh.
There was no possibility for Kalen to leave Laris behind, so even if her eyes had not fully opened, there was nothing around her that needed alternative interpretations.
Before falling asleep, in the Crystal Cave, only Kalen and Laris herself had been relaxing together.
There was also no possibility for someone to come close without Kalen waking her.
Even as Laris woke from her slumber, her mind quickly began to kick into action, drawing a conclusion amidst the context.
But then, it was inexplicable.
Holding Laris’ own hand tightly, there was a woman smiling so desolately.
“…”
No, the word woman did not fit.
Laris knew this woman well.
She had never forgotten her, the one she always cherished her necklace for.
“Uh…”
Still drowsy from sleep, her vision was blurred, yet someone’s figure was clearly drawn.
“Mo-ther…”
There could be no such thing as a mistake.
At least to Laris, her mother and sister were entities so precious she could willingly trade her life for theirs.
But if her mother had already passed…
Laris had made peace by burying the necklace instead.
Even if it appeared as nothing more than self-consolation, it was an endeavor she accepted.
So this kind of situation was neither expected nor wished for.
Laris herself had directly witnessed the disappearance of her mother’s body.
But—
“…Laris…”
“…”
Unclasping her interlocked hands, the woman gently cupped Laris’ cheek.
The hand was icy, yet inexplicably to Laris, it felt so warm it made her eyes brim with tears.
The tears streaming down her cheeks were tenderly cupped by the cold hand.
Though she had awakened, the vision before her, blurred with tears, showed a beloved face.
-Refusing the woman standing before her for mere reasons such as these would be far too pitiful.
Laris slowly placed her hand over the one cradling her cheek, fearing that this unbelievable reality would vanish.
The hands were still cold, but precisely because of that, it pleaded with her that this was truly reality.
“Please don’t cry, Laris.”
“Sniff…”
As the woman wiped away the tears with her thumb,
Laris could finally take her clear view of her.
She looked somewhat different, almost like Laris herself but fast-forwarded by a decade.
“Mother…!”
There was no question of “how.”
The mother whom Laris had only met in dreams was now within arm’s reach.
But, silly as it may sound, Laris foremost believed in Kalen.
Not that they were childhood friends, but ever since he grew closer to her as he does now, his demeanor made Laren trust him deeply.
With Kalen by her side and her mother before her, Laris embraced her mother as the last barrier crumbled.
The woman enveloped Laris’ embrace.
Tears streamed from both mother and daughter’s eyes, but anyone witnessing this couldn’t possibly deny that those tears were anything but of joy.
Third-rate plays are predictable and juvenile.
The endings are always happy, and the protagonist always encounters a magical ending.
It suddenly crossed Kalen’s mind.
Why do people’s steps to such third-rate theater never cease?
Despite labeling them as hackneyed and childish, perhaps people still deem these conclusions as the correct ones.
Predictable, childish, but precisely because of that—a happy ending.
If Laris and her mother’s story was one such third-rate play, then such an ending was the only conclusion worth thinking about.
Kalen observed Laris crying in her mother’s embrace and the woman embracing Laris with warmth, tears joyfully streaming down her face.
“Perhaps…”
Could Kalen himself have desired a conclusion like this?
Kalen stared silently at the “mother and daughter who found happiness,” then quietly stood from his place.
*
Everyone has a side they wish to hide from others.
Laris’ situation wasn’t necessarily something to be ashamed of, but considering Kalen’s presence, she most likely wouldn’t want to let him see her sobbing without restraint into the arms of her long-missed mother.
As someone of high rank from the Plache family, and as a mere girl who reunited with her deceased mother, it was understandable.
However, Kalen stepping aside was not solely for this reason.
Initially, accepting Laris’ long-held wish also involved satisfying a curiosity of his own.
It was a joyful outcome for Kalen that Laris’ long-standing wish had such a happy ending, but there was still something Kalen wanted to uncover.
To understand that, Kalen wandered through the hallways of the Crystal Cave.
“Indeed, you’re right, Kalen.”
As it turned out, Kalen wasn’t alone.
A ringing sound resembling human language, one that probably only Kalen could have understood.
A tone of a young lady who scores perfect grades in every lecture.
The two beings sitting lightly on Kalen’s shoulder were the owners of that voice.
“Do you understand, Felicious?”
“Yes. I’m a bit surprised… that humans managed this…”
Kalen’s spirit.
Strictly speaking, Felicious hadn’t originally been the spirit Kalen shared a contract with, but for some reason ever since “that day,” both Felicious and Tia-se were bound by contract to Kalen.
Especially Felicious, originally Cinat’s spirit.
Now, it’s a relationship close enough for her to help Kalen overthrow old existences.
And…
“Kalen… wasn’t that human already dead?”
“That’s correct, Tia-se.”
“Perhaps it’s because of that… Among the similar existences, the human soul is perhaps the most akin to a spirit’s essence.”
Tia-se replied this time.
Since Tia-se did not intend to break her contract when they parted ways, the involuntary relationship established at the High Altar of Hiart Mountain reached this point.
Thus, Felicious and Tia-se, the two spirits, sat demurely on Kalen’s shoulder in their dragon forms and spoke.
But even I am amazed… Who would’ve thought the earnestness of humans could accomplish something like this…”
“Anyway, Kalen. Is this information sufficient?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Haa… honestly. Between you and Tia, we’ve been swamped because of your requests.”
“Thank you, Felicious.”
“…Understood.”
“And Tia-se too.”
“…Yes.”
Had Laris not entrusted a favor at the banquet hall,
had Kalen not headed to the Plache family,
Kalen would have likely prepared to head to the spirit plane about now.
Though he would have to quickly deal with the promises he had with Eliana, Serasie, Daphnis, and Licheisa.
Ultimately, Kalen’s goal was to know himself.
Traveling to the spirit plane was to achieve just that.
The reasons Felicious and Tia were busy were also due to Kalen’s requests.
The only reason Kalen could understand the language of spirits and travel with Felicious to the spirit plane was because of his unique existence.
For a human to enter the spirit plane was originally an impossibility.
The reason Felicious and Tia could persuade their mothers, the current rulers of their respective domains, was due to the confirmed threat of the Old Existence.
Kalen’s endeavor to travel to the spirit world with humans was a task requiring great effort.
This was indeed a confirmation that Kalen had just requested from Felicious and Tia-se.
Though Laris’ mother possessed a talent for the magical discipline of knowledge, it was still impossible for a human to create an illusion.
The only one capable of such an endeavor was, perhaps at best, Kalen himself.
Kalen did not understand why he himself could awaken an illusion, so he sought their confirmation.
This was, in a way, related to Kalen’s goals.
The reason he came here to help Laris was to understand the causal relationship of how noblewomen awakened illusions when they were together with him.
Since understanding the properties of this Crystal Cave was also connected with his goal of going to the spirit world, it was not an unrelated task.
The fact he discovered was that this mirage space was indeed similar to a spirit’s illusion.
Kalen’s suspicion began after the explosion on the cliff.
The sensation felt during that explosion, which couldn’t quite be labeled as magic, was something Kalen thought felt more akin to elemental magic.
Hence, if this mirage was born from the woman’s magic, it could be related to elemental magic similarly to that explosion.
Illusions, originally spirits’ possessions, had been mentioned by Felicious back in the spirit realm.
“If my thinking is correct…”
“Kalen? Is something wrong?”
“Kalen…?”
“…”
Now that this had been confirmed,
Kalen felt he had gotten one step closer to the knowledge he sought.
And that assurance led him closer to a certain hypothesis.
“…”
“Felicious, Tia-se.”
Kalen stroked the crystal-like stone that sparkled like those in the Crystal Cave and continued his words slowly.
“Could I absorb this illusion?”
“…”
“…”
Kalen’s gaze was fixed on the crystals, but his blurred eyes gazed somewhere far away.
When curing Eliana’s ailment.
When dealing with the monstrosity with Serasie on the altar.
When going to the spirit realm to save Cinat and realizing the method of using illusions.
Kalen had awakened illusions in the noblewomen and as if absorbing them, made them his own—turning the second, third, and fourth tier spells into his possessions.
An impossible feat for the ordinary.
Blamia referred to this as an attribute of nothingness.
A single hypothesis that came to Kalen’s mind:
If, just as its name implies, my dark world was greedy enough to engulf everything around me and make it my own…
“Kalen.”
Fellacious softly called Kalen, who was lost in thought.
“Ah, sorry. Something came to mind.”
“Looks like we’ve been of help. That’s good to hear, but someone’s coming this way.”
“…Laris.”
Now that he thought about it, quite some time had passed since he left Laris alone.
At this point, they probably had time to reunite sufficiently.
“Alright then. I think it’s fine to head back. Thanks Felicious. You too, Tia-se.”
“…”
“Alright then.”
“Will we see you soon?”
“Yeah. Thanks to your efforts.”
“…”
“…”
Laris had no knowledge that Kalen could command spirits.
She was already emotionally complicated over the matter of her mother, and he didn’t wish to burden her mind further with more thoughts.
Just when Felicious and Tia were about to return,
Felicious quietly called Kalen, her voice edged with dissatisfaction.
“…”
“That girl has grown on you?”
“…”
“Hmph.”
Before Kalen could ask what she meant, Felicious disappeared.
Glancing at Tia-se at that moment, her expression was also less than entirely kind-hearted.
Ultimately, Felicious and Tia-se returned to the spirit world.
From the dark corridor, two pairs of footsteps approached.
“Kalen.”
Looking back at the source, standing there was Laris and the woman.
The firmness with which Laris held her mother’s hand was almost palpable through her expression.
“Miss.”
“Thank you for your consideration…”
Kalen quickly understood her feelings.
The joy of meeting someone long missed.
An inexplicable sense of guilt, and finally,
a firm resolution.
“Are you planning to stay?”
“Ah…”
There’s no need to be surprised.
Laris had stated she would leave the family after her mother’s burial, after all.
Compared to the previous situation where she had nowhere to go, perhaps staying with her mother now would be better.
Laris understood that Kalen had perceived her deepest intentions, and after a moment of surprise, she tightened her grip on her mother’s hand and began:
“Truly, thank you… but…”
“Miss.”
And here, Kalen interrupted her, as he had done in the past.
Caught off guard, Laris momentarily froze, stunned.
“Would you not wish to seek revenge?”
Perhaps, as in her habit of speech,
Kalen understood the source of Laris’ anxiety after witnessing the happy ending.
When her mother passed away,
her sister left,
her father abandoned her,
the stepmother and her family sought to deny her existence.
How could anyone endure that?
That was far beyond what a mere girl should bear.
Those numerous pains took root within the girl,
erasing her bit by bit over time.
What remained was but uncertainty and unease.
Laris’ habitual use of conjectures was born precisely from this.
And so the question stands:
“Standing before the father who abandoned you and your family…”
“Will you not reclaim what was lost?”
“Will you not wish to retrieve your lost self?”
“And confidently, before the stepmother and her family who attempted to erase your mother…”
The woman could exit the cave as the necklace reacted.
Only because Kalen and Laris, bearers of the “necklace,” existed outside the cave.
Upon the woman wearing the necklace, reemerging from the cave would no longer be possible.
Kalen’s words were not only directed at Laris.
“Do you not wish to show them you can live happily without them?”
And so,
the forgotten woman within the cave,
the girl who chose to remain by her mother’s side, forsaken by her family,
looked at Kalen blankly.
And within the ashen eyes of both Laris and the woman,
surrounding Kalen,
somewhere along the line, was painted with the blackness of dusk.