Retire 343
by Cristae343 A Blessing Upon You (2)
The scent of roses was so thick it stung my nose.
The moment we emerged from underground, the sight before us made me dizzy for an instant. Hong Seokyeong seemed equally stunned, rendered speechless for a moment.
“…What happened here?”
If even Hong Seokyeong was saying that, it spoke volumes.
Compared to the oppressive force we’d felt passing through the dungeon gate, the dungeon itself had been peaceful. The star-filled sky was almost romantic. The beautiful sea with its crashing waves, the sparkling sandy beach, the vast forest.
If not for the bizarre, crablike monsters crawling flat along the ground, we might have taken our time to enjoy the view. Even the monsters, compared to the toll and the size of the dungeon, were weak.
In any case, it hadn’t been an ugly dungeon, but neither was it particularly distinctive. Or was it? There had been a lot of monsters. It had taken us days to get here, cleaning up the dungeon alongside Hong Seokyeong.
But now?
“All of this is Mr. Kim’s magic?”
“If not, that’s a problem too.”
“…What could have made Mr. Kim use this kind of magic?”
“That’s definitely a problem.”
Roses filled the dungeon.
Vines wrapped around the trees. From the base to the trunk, to every branch. Large and small roses grew, using the entire tree as their pillar, blooming like apples.
On every tree in sight.
But was Kim Chaemin’s magic only touching the trees?
Not at all. There were brambles on the ground. Thorny thickets like those that covered the sleeping princess’s castle in fairy tales. Even those brambles bore flowers—red buds not yet fully open.
How could these roses not be Kim Chaemin’s?
The entire dungeon was suffused with the fresh magic of Kim Chaemin, a blend of pink and green.
Having confirmed the situation, there was nothing left to discuss. We kept silent and ran toward the source of the magic.
The pale pink magic deepened in color as we went, growing as red as roses—yet not with the ominous hue of Hope’s magic. The scent of roses grew stronger with the magic.
When we reached the shore, I realized that among these roses, real and fake were mixed together.
Whenever Kim Chaemin’s hands were idle, he would make a rose bloom in his palm. To others, it might seem like a waste, but given his attributes and magic, it was probably as easy as breathing.
I had once asked him,
‘What happens if you plant that flower?’
‘Pardon?’
‘That flower.’
‘Ah, this one?’
Kim Chaemin had shrugged.
‘A mage can do many things, but we can’t create life. If it’s a seed I’ve sprouted, anyone can grow it. But these—if I don’t keep feeding them magic, they’ll wither.’
As he’d said, Kim Chaemin’s roses scattered his magic around them like mana grass.
But that didn’t mean all the flowers were fake. The flowers had substance. You could touch them, and Kim Chaemin had even used the petals to make jam with the children.
Jam, from those? Imi-seon had nearly fainted when she saw the jam Lee Seungyeon brought. Who wouldn’t, faced with such a concentrated magical preserve?
Anyway, besides the usual flowers Kim Chaemin made, there were illusions as well. They had substance but no magic, just decorations. No scent, no magic, nothing—just artificial flowers. Having seen Kim Chaemin’s flowers so often, once I noticed, it was easy to tell them apart.
This didn’t feel like the magic he usually used.
Despite the overwhelming power of this magic, the unease I felt was because of that very fact. I’d watched Kim Chaemin for over a year. Not just the sparse personal data stored in my magic watch! I trusted Kim Chaemin, and he trusted me. Of all the magic he’d ever explained, there was nothing like this!
What kind of situation would force him to use a magic he didn’t even like to use? Obviously…!
“……!”
Of all the magic I’d seen from past to future, Kim Chaemin’s was among the most beautiful.
Red petals swirling on the wind, obscuring my vision, roses floating on the sea. Kim Chaemin stood tall among them, blood as red as the roses streaming from him.
The archmage who had once given everything for a hunter he didn’t even know…
“Shit, do I look like a joke to you?!”
He spat a curse and kicked furiously at the cocoon of vines.
“I—even if a mage is weak—!”
“…Mr. Kim?”
“Mages have their own ways! Their own methods!!”
“…Mr. Kim.”
“Die!!”
“……”
Kim Chaemin wiped the blood from his mouth.
…Blood?
I quickly checked for other injuries, but fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any major wounds. Internal injuries were another matter, of course.
“You think I don’t know my own weaknesses?! Do I look that stupid to you?! Weaknesses are there to be overcome! You think I wouldn’t have a plan?! There’s a limit to how much you can underestimate people!!!”
I couldn’t even bring myself to call out to him again. At least, if he was moving like that, it meant his injuries weren’t too serious. I decided to wait until he calmed down. The… person presumed to be Henry Lehmann was already subdued, enduring Kim Chaemin’s kicks.
…Was it really Henry Lehmann? Kim Chaemin had signaled that it was, but that didn’t necessarily mean Henry Lehmann was here.
Besides, we couldn’t even check his face. A cocoon of rose vines—just the words alone were hard to say if it was romantic or grotesque.
Kim Chaemin was breathing heavily. As his breathing began to steady, vines grew and gripped the cocoon he’d been kicking. Honestly, it was hard to see what was trapped inside. Just looking at those vines, brimming with magic, made me feel drained. At that level, even Hong Seokyeong would have trouble breaking free. An archmage was an archmage, after all. Not that I’d ever underestimated him, but…
Kim Chaemin wasn’t usually the type to take the front lines in battle. We’d rarely entered dungeons together.
Maybe I’d been underestimating him too. With every kick, I reflected on that.
“Ugh!”
A choked sound came from inside the vine cocoon. I saw gray hair rolling on the sand. Beside it, I noticed a white feather. I couldn’t help but frown.
Since getting involved with the Ark, nothing good had ever come from seeing those white feathers.
“Ow, ow, that hurts!”
Then, fluent Korean reached my ears.
The man spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.
“Alright, alright. It’s not like I let my guard down just because you’re a mage, but I really didn’t expect you to use your unique magic in succession like that.”
He twisted his body. His face was still buried in the sand, but a foot covered in white feathers emerged. Beast-like claws dug into the sand.
Ah. After the arm, now the foot.
“I didn’t even know it was possible to use that much.”
Natural Korean, like Sam Bloom or Alex Hope.
Sandra Gamble, who still studied Korean every day, would probably find this a bit unfair.
“If all three generations are archmages, you can do things like this. Is it because they’re the same lineage? Or is it just because you’re an amazing mage?”
“Hmph.”
Kim Chaemin snorted.
“Your grandfather’s and father’s magic are famous… I looked them up, just in case, but does unique magic change depending on the mage? I should have listened more carefully when Noah explained, instead of brushing it off.”
Noah. Noah Michel.
He was about to say something about him, but Kim Chaemin shook his head. What was that about?
“Actually, aren’t you a greater mage than Noah? Ah, I want to tell him right away. He’ll be absolutely disgusted.”
“You think you’ll get the chance? You think I’ll let you go?!”
Kim Chaemin’s voice was as aggressive as if he were trying to silence both me and Hong Seokyeong.
But Henry Lehmann just laughed, completely unbothered.
“Haha. Be careful. Noah acts like he’s above it all, but he really lives for his own genius…”
Henry Lehmann’s voice grew quieter. Not just softer—fainter, as if it were receding into the distance…
“Huh? What the—!”
Kim Chaemin began to panic.
“Good thing I borrowed from Noah. Otherwise, I’d have ended up like Alex.”
“…What!”
“Goodbye, Rose Lady. Next time, you’d better be a little more careful.”
Crack.
Something broke inside the vines binding Lehmann.
Kim Chaemin’s face went rigid.
“……”
He stared at Henry Lehmann—or rather, at the vines holding him.
The foot that had been scraping the ground went limp. The body sagged. For a moment, I thought it looked like a corpse, but I pushed the thought aside and checked on Kim Chaemin. The important thing was that Lehmann was subdued and Kim Chaemin was safe.
“Mr. Kim?”
“Are you alright?”
“……”
Kim Chaemin remained silent, as if he couldn’t hear us. For someone who usually smiled so often, his hardened expression was frightening. Even Hong Seokyeong hesitated.
Without taking his eyes off Henry Lehmann, Kim Chaemin finally spoke.
“Alright.”
“Yes?”
“Right now—Noah Michel, Henry Lehmann, whoever—if you have any information about them that you haven’t told me, say it now.”
“…What’s going on?”
“Anything you learned from the future or otherwise… Is there something you haven’t told me?”
I didn’t know what he was getting at, but seeing his face go pale, I couldn’t even think of lying.
Not that I had any reason to lie in the first place.
“No. In fact, you probably know more about Noah Michel than I do.”
“Same here. Noah Michel doesn’t usually go on dungeon raids, so I’ve never worked with him.”
“…And Henry Lehmann?”
“I first learned about him here.”
“I’m trying to catch him. If I knew anything, I’d have told you honestly and asked for help. Wait, I already did, didn’t I?”
Hong Seokyeong tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but it didn’t reach Kim Chaemin.
Kim Chaemin’s magic subsided. The roses filling the dungeon remained, but the floating magic grew still. He bit his lip hard.
“This is your last chance.”
“Yes?”
“If I find out later that you hid something, I’ll really be angry. Is there anything you’re hiding about Noah Michel? About his magic?”
“…I’ve told you everything I know. You’ve seen Noah Michel’s future information yourself.”
“That’s true…”
Kim Chaemin’s shoulders slumped.
“…Are you alright? We didn’t see the face, but that was Henry Lehmann, right? Did he follow you into the dungeon?”
“No. He rose out of the sea.”
“What?”
If not for the exhaustion on Kim Chaemin’s face, I’d have thought it was a joke.
Kim Chaemin released the vines binding Henry Lehmann. It happened so quickly, we couldn’t even stop him to ask what he was doing.
But what the vines had been holding was somewhat different from what I’d expected.
“This… doesn’t look like Henry Lehmann, does it?”
Inside the vines was not Henry Lehmann, nor even anything that looked human. A thin body, protruding joints. Arms and legs attached to the torso, bent at unnatural angles, trembling violently. White feathers were scattered on the ground, but there were no claws. No gray hair.
Crack—a sound I’d heard just moments ago—and an arm fell off. A thin thread of magic connected the torso and the arm.