Chapter 80
“Why the heck do we have to do this?”
“To commemorate our graduation!”
The beginning of this whole event was, of course, because of Arthia, who loved planning and celebrating anything special.
One day before graduation, he had asked everyone to bring something they cherished.
Without even knowing why, they each arrived with an item, only to be led to a small forest behind the academy building.
“It’s the trend these days. Friends bury something special in a secret spot and dig it up years later.”
“And why would anyone do that?”
“Because it’s romantic!”
“Let’s go, Grace.”
“Okay.”
“Aww, come on! It’s fun! Don’t leave, don’t leave!”
The two, who had given Arthia a look that clearly said, “what nonsense,” turned to leave—but in the end, they gave in to his pleading.
“Let’s come back here together in 30 years and dig it up.”
“30 years? Not 3? You really think this’ll still be here by then?”
“Don’t worry! Who am I? I cast protection magic, preservation magic—every kind of magic I could think of on this box!”
“You really do waste your talents in the weirdest ways.”
“Shut it. If you keep that up, Kainel, I won’t put your item in the box.”
“……”
“Things like this gain meaning and romance over time! So we have to come back in 30 years and dig it up together!”
—
“Not 30… it’s been 300 years.”
Who would’ve thought I’d die so soon?
‘There’s no way those two came together and dug it up without me.’
It’s probably still buried right where we left it… but I’m not certain.
Ceres walked along the small forest path the three of them had once taken, until she arrived at a particular spot.
There, stood a towering tree that stretched endlessly toward the sky.
“It’s still so magnificent.”
Arthia had chosen this place, saying it would last a long time if buried beneath a healthy tree.
‘He even spread rumors about it.’
That this tree had divine powers and granted wishes.
Since then, people had been tying written wishes to the tree or praying beside it.
‘Looks like that’s still going on.’
Countless wish notes were hanging all over the tree.
Most likely, each one held someone’s hopes and dreams.
‘Do they know?’
That the one who started the rumor was Arthia.
“Well, I guess it worked out.”
The tree still stood strong after all these years, just as Arthia had predicted.
If anything, there were even more notes tied to the branches now than before.
At this point, it might really have some kind of spiritual power.
“It should be around here.”
Will it still be there?
Ceres began digging behind the tree, at the spot she remembered.
Where did the shovel come from, you ask? She borrowed it from the academy’s storage.
Squelch!
“Wow, we buried it pretty deep.”
‘So others wouldn’t find it.’
“…Yeah, yeah. You were so clever.”
Even back then, she had scolded him for burying it so deep.
Clang!
As she kept digging down, the shovel finally hit something different.
“…It’s here.”
It really was.
The box they had buried long ago.
Despite the passage of time, thanks to all the protective magic, it remained completely intact—exactly as it had been back then.
“……”
Lifting the box from the earth, Ceres silently stared at it for a long while.
It felt incredibly strange.
Back when they buried this, she had believed they’d always be together…
Who would have thought she’d be the one to dig it up—alone?
Click.
Only after a long pause did Ceres open the box.
Inside were three items.
Ceres first pulled out the one she had placed inside.
“…Ha.”
She must’ve been around ten years old.
When a thing called a ‘camera’ had first come out, Arthia had eagerly bought one.
Thanks to him, the three of them had taken their first-ever photograph.
Ceres stared at the palm-sized paper.
Arthia, full of mischief.
Kainel, with that same cold expression he always had.
And…
‘That’s me.’
Grace, from back then.
In the photo, there was her old self standing among her friends with a faint smile.
You were right, Alti.
I don’t know about romantic…
“…But it is nostalgic.”
So this is why it became a trend.
“That is…”
Next, what Ceres picked up was the item Kainel had left behind.
Inside a pure white pouch, there was something small.
That guy, Kainel, never told us what he had put in here till the end.
“Hmmm.”
Ceres, who was holding the pouch, placed it back in the box.
Since Kainel wasn’t here, it didn’t feel right to open his item so carelessly.
Eventually, her gaze moved to the last item.
Rustle.
“…?”
Just as she was about to check what Arthia had put in, she sensed a presence.
Ceres quickly turned around—uncharacteristically startled.
And immediately understood why she hadn’t sensed anyone approaching until now.
“Kai…”
Kainel was slowly walking toward her.
“……”
He was staring at the box placed at Ceres’ feet.
Ceres awkwardly smiled and subtly covered the box.
It might be a little late, but she had to do something, right?
“What brings you here?”
She even tried to change the subject.
But no reply came from Kainel.
He just continued to stare intently at the box.
“…I found it by chance.”
“By chance?”
“Yeah. I was just out for a walk.”
“You take a shovel with you on walks now?”
“Digging the ground is a hobby of mine.”
“……”
Silently, he stepped even closer.
Ceres, who had been rambling—saying things like how something was poking out of the ground so she dug it up and found the box, how it was such a coincidence—gradually quieted down.
Now standing right in front of her, Kainel stared directly into her eyes without moving a muscle.
“I know this looks like something that might be misunderstood, but…”
“April 3rd, 1213.”
“…What?”
Ceres, who had begun explaining with an unusually defensive tone, suddenly paused.
And Kainel threw one last question at her.
“What were Arthia’s last words to Grace that day?”
“……”
A question far too familiar to Ceres.
***
[Welcome. Congratulations on being the third person to open this room.]
“T-Third?”
Chaian de Devrica had once again stepped into the space known as Arthia’s Magical Space.
A short while ago, he had found the answer to open the 22nd room.
But now…
“Why has another person been added again?!”
Once more, the words of the former Tower Master, Arthia, threw Chaian into utter confusion.
Last time, he had been shocked when he congratulated him for being the second to enter the room.
But now it wasn’t even second—it was third!
“How does that even make sense?!”
Who is it? Just who was it?!
“Wow…”
They didn’t take that either.
Chaian let out a defeated expression as he looked at a magic item neatly placed in one corner.
Seriously, why go through the trouble of entering the room if you’re not going to take something like that? Why?
“Who was it? Who came in here before me?!”
[…]
As expected of a projection that only responds to predetermined dialogue—there was no answer.
[Here is the 23rd question. When I was 18 years old, I entered the S-rank Black Forest and brought back an item. What was it?]
“How am I supposed to know that?!”
[Wrong. That’s not the correct answer.]
“Oh come on! Ugh!”
[Oh? Did you just swear at me? Get out. Now.]
“Wow, that you understood?! No way! I’m not leaving! Not until you tell me who it was!”
Whoooosh!
“Tell me whoooooo it was!”
Chaian’s pitiful cry echoed throughout the tower as he was forcefully expelled by the room’s magic.
***
‘Alti… you were right.’
「Still, don’t worry. That guy will definitely find you.」
Arthia’s last words.
Back then, she had scoffed and said Alti was wrong—said Kainel didn’t recognize her at all.
“Do I need to ask again? April 3rd, 1213—what were Arthia’s last words to Grace?”
“……”
She had been somewhat prepared for this.
That Kainel might have realized something.
‘That day…’
When she saw Kainel sleeping beside her.
She had thought of it then.
It was hard to imagine him falling asleep next to anyone else besides Arthia or herself.
‘Then why did you keep pretending not to know?’
Because she knew him too well.
She knew exactly what he would do the moment he accepted that she was Grace.
He would try to give everything back to her.
Everything Grace Ellsia had once possessed—he would try to gather it all and place it at the feet of Ceres Drow.
‘No matter what it takes.’
—
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