Chapter 316 – I’m Hurt (2)

"…However I want?"

Cale nodded his head at the GPS-like voice that had returned to its normal calmness.

"Yes. I don't care whether you take it all or share it with others. Do whatever you want."

Mary looked back and forth between Cale and the tree trunks. The glutton was talking in Cale's mind as he watched Mary.

– It needs to be purified. There's a limit to how long the trees can hold it in.

The Man-Eating Tree in the Henituse territory.
People had avoided the desolate area around the tree, however, that area had not become a dead area from dead mana.

Everything would just dry up over there.

– Dead things that do not return to nature and instead remain in the world start to cause issues for other lifeforms.

Just like the Man-Eating Tree.
It could have a negative effect on the surrounding area.

"Hmm? Everybody is out here?"

Cale raised his head after suddenly hearing a voice.

He looked above a black tree trunk that had grown tall. The Dark Elf Tasha was looking down from the top of the tree.

The Dark Elves were currently assisting the warriors in restoring the Jungle after the battle. It was because the Elementals with different elements were quite helpful for the restoration projects.

"I, mm, rushed here, so I am happy to see you right away."

Tasha had an awkward expression on her face as she jumped off the tree trunk.

Cale looked toward Tasha instead of the quiet Mary.
No, to be more specific, he was looking at the man behind Tasha who had an extremely shocked expression on his face.

'Why is he here?'

Cale had a questioning gaze on his face while Tasha could only smile apologetically toward him.

"Well, once I reported the situation-"
"Oh! My goodness! Oh, oh, oh!"

The man behind Tasha cut her off and continued to exclaim in admiration.

'Aigoo.'

Cale was starting to get a headache. However, his body quickly started to move. He had no other choice.

"This worthless fool does not dare to see such a revered being's face while standing on my two legs!"
"Mayor-nim!"
"Grandfather! Please!"

Cale and Tasha quickly grabbed Obante, the mayor of the Dark Elves' Underground City, as he tried to kneel. ( Confirmed that it was author screwing up by saying Tasha's dad earlier. )
Tasha's grandfather was still the same.

– This Dark Elf is acting like this again!

Cale did not have the time to listen to Raon's excited voice.

"Oh, my goodness!"
"Grandfather, please!"

Tasha tried to stop him, but the Dark Elf mayor was completely astonished after seeing the person standing right outside Cale's tent.

It was a man with white gold hair.
It was Eruhaben.
The last person to come out of Cale's tent had a video communication device connected with crown prince Alberu in his hand.
He was the only one who remembered about Alberu when everybody else had forgotten about him and rushed out, as well as the person who had been quietly observing everything from a corner of the tent.

The current mayor of the Dark Elves who had lived for over 500 years could not think about anything after feeling a cold presence.

'This level of presence...!'

The other Dark Elves who had never met a Dragon before and thus could not accurately pick up on Eruhaben and the invisible Raon's presence.
However, mayor Obante who had seen a Dragon in the past was immediately able to know Eruhaben's true identity.

He also got chills after realizing that he could not feel Raon's presence.

'…Raon-nim has gotten much stronger!'

Obante could tell that Raon had gotten much stronger than him because, unlike last time, he was unable to feel Raon's presence while he was invisible.

"Mayor-nim."

Obante turned his head after hearing a low voice calling for him.
He could see Cale Henituse looking at him.

'…He's gotten stronger.'

He could feel the presence of nature flowing out of Cale. His Elemental was circling around Cale without knowing what to do.

'…Has it been one year now?'

It had been about a year since they had first met.
Just what could have happened to Cale's group during this time?

'The war made them this much stronger?'

That was nonsense. He believed that there was a different reason that they got this much stronger.
Although that reason was important, it wasn't very important to mayor Obante.

His gaze then brushed past Mary.
She was like a granddaughter to him.
At the same time, he thought about the Land of Death, as well as the Underground City underneath where he was mayor.

He thought about the Circle of Fate that had been passed down for generations.
That fate was finally starting to appear during this generation.

He peeked toward the Dragon with white-gold hair.
The two of them made eye contact.

– Ignore me.

He could hear the Dragon's voice.
Obante put strength into both of his legs and stood up straight.

Cale flinched after seeing the way Obante was looking at him.
Forget passionate, it looked a bit… crazed.

'What's up with this old man?'

Cale felt chills on his back after seeing this Dragon maniac looking at him with such a fierce gaze.

Pat.

Obante put a hand on Cale's shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"I will put everything on the line as well."

'What is he talking about?
What nonsense is he spewing after just showing up here?'

Cale looked away from the fiery gaze of the mayor and looked toward Tasha.

"Ah, seriously! Mayor-nim, how can you put it like that?!"

Tasha looked toward Cale with an annoyed expression and started to speak.

"I informed the mayor-nim about the Dark Elves' battles last night. The mayor-nim then said that he had something to say regarding Mary and rushed over. He also said that he had something to give to you, young master Cale."
"…Mary?"

Cale's gaze turned back toward the mayor.
The mayor started to speak at that moment.

"Mary."

He gently called Mary's name.

"Yes, grandfather."

Obante looked toward Mary who was responding calmly as usual and recalled when she was ten years old.

'I prefer the hurting necromancer.'

She had chosen to become a necromancer when given the option of becoming a black mage or a necromancer.

"What kind of necromancer do you want to be?"

Obante asked a question he had not asked back then. Mary closed her mouth after hearing that question.
Obante's gaze was too serious for her to give an answer without thinking about it.
Although he might be goofy, this was the wisest Dark Elf in the world. He was also the nice grandfather who had opened up the path for her to become a necromancer.

Mary looked toward Cale.
She could hear Raon's voice.

– Good little Mary! Answer however you want! I will even give you permission to use the words, 'great and mighty,' in order to describe yourself!

Mary started to smile underneath the black robe.

She had made up her mind about something during the last battle when she fought against the Tower Master who was controlling Honte.
It was similar to the author of the book she had studied from.

< You just have to be almost unrivaled in strength. >
< Like me. The Sage of Death. >

Mary shared her thoughts with Obante.

"Unrivaled."

She was hungry.
She became hungry after seeing the trees that were filled with dead mana.

Hungry was the only way Mary knew to describe this feeling.
It was because she had never felt this type of greed or desire before. It was different than when all she wanted to do was to see the outside world.
It was a greed that dug as deep as a swamp.

She wanted to get stronger.
That was her greed and desire.
She was hungry because she had not reached the level that she wanted to be at.

"I want to become strong enough to be unrivaled."

Mayor Obante continued to gently ask.

"Like who?"

Mary did not hesitate to answer.

"Like the Sage of Death."

That was the author who had taught her about the path to becoming a necromancer.

< I hope you become even stronger than me. My disciple who will be reading this book. >

She wanted to be like her.

Tasha flinched after hearing Mary's response.
There was something her grandfather Obante had told her before she came to the Jungle while telling her to protect Mary.

'Yes, this may all just be nature taking its course. It is finally time for someone to receive the will of the Sage of Death.'

She had questioned who the Sage of Death was at that time. Tasha's gaze automatically turned toward Obante.
However, Obante was looking at Cale instead. He opened his mouth to speak.

"The Sage of Death."

Obante took a book out of his clothes.
It was a story that had been passed down to the mayor of the Underground City for generations after generations.
The Sage of Death.

"She is death itself."

She had embraced death.
Furthermore.

"She was the only Queen of the dark beings."

Both light and darkness were part of nature.
She had been the one to gather together the beings who could only live in darkness.

"The Queen of Death." ( This was translated as King of Death in the past, but as Obante describes it as a woman, it will be translated as Queen from here onward. This author has a tendency to use King for some reason, as he does the same for Witira… )

Cale recalled what the Tower Master had said during the battle once the Dark Elf mayor said that title.

'The Queen of Death will be so sad. She would have been happy that another necromancer had appeared.'

The Sage of Death was the Queen of Death.
However, Obante was not finished speaking.

"She was the one who turned the Caro Kingdom's desert into the Land of Death of the Five Forbidden Regions."

The Land of Death was the only one of the Five Forbidden Regions where a person was the main focal point of the legend.
It was a desert that had red sand during the day and black sand at night.
She had created that desert.

"She was the final necromancer."

The sage, queen, and the final being.

"She was called the, 'Queen of Death,' as she was the only necromancer to overpower black mages."

She was someone who had reached the zenith of darkness with overwhelming and unrivaled power.

"She was also the person who created a place for the Dark Elves to live."

A place for the Dark Elves to live.
She had created that large underground city that was called the City of Death or the City of Life.

Cale recalled something else that the Tower Master had said.

'I barely managed to get rid of all of them. The Dark Elves as well. I thought I had dried out their seeds.'

The Alchemists' Bell Tower's Tower Master had thought that the Dark Elves were gone as well.
However, they were living underneath the Land of Death.
Obante started to smile.

"It's a long story to explain, but the black mages tried to kill the Dark Elves as well."
"…Grandfather! Is that true?"

Tasha asked in shock while Obante just shook his head while saying that it was ancient history.

"The Dark Elves were responsible for making the Underground City beautiful, however, the Sage of Death was the one to originally provide that place for us."

Obante closed his eyes as if he was thinking about the story that was only passed on from mayor to mayor.

The Dark Elves did not hate the humans who despised them generation after generation.
Why?

It was because each Dark Elf in charge of the Underground City had said something to them since a long time ago.

'Humans are similar to us.
Do not hate all of them.
There are humans who are suffering like us.'

They could not hate all humans as it was a, 'human,' who had provided the Dark Elves a place to live.

Obante looked toward Cale and continued to speak.

"I will put our full force forward in order to help all of you, and-"

The old man's wrinkled hand went up to Mary's shoulder.

"We will help Mary."

The Sage of Death was said to have said something before her death.

< The next King of Death can only be a necromancer. > ( Used king in order to make it general as she would have had no way of knowing whether it'd be a male or female, but our Mary will make a wonderful Queen! )

The Dark Elf Obante could not disagree with that.
Why?

It was because both Dark Elves, black mages, and other beings of darkness did not know the pain that darkness could bring.
They were especially clueless about death.

However, necromancers always kept pain and death by their side.

< The position of king is something that only someone who has experienced rock bottom and the lowest point can achieve. >

Obante thought about the word, 'fate.'

10 years old.
A child had escaped from a human city and ran across the desert in order to survive. That child had ended up a necromancer with a disgusting appearance.
And then, black magic reappeared in the world once that child came back out to the world seventeen years late.

Many things that Obante had never even imagined would happen were happening.

The position of, 'Mayor of the City of Death.'
The Dark Elves never had a king even though the Whale tribe, who were fewer in number, had a king.
The majority of Dark Elves did not know the reason behind this as it had been too long, however, the mayor knew the reason.

The position of king was already taken.

Obante patted the blankly staring Mary's shoulder before handing the book in his hand to Cale.

"This is the book the Sage of Death had left behind about black magic."

He had offered this book to Mary along with the necromancer book.

"The Sage said that there would be different owners for this book and the necromancer book."

Cale received the book that was covered in black.
There was no title on the black book.

"The Sage said that the rightful owner of this book would know it belonged to them once they read the first page."

Obante was telling Cale to read this book similar to how Mary had chosen the necromancer book after reading through it.
Cale opened the black book with an odd expression on his face.

Flip.
He could see what was written on the first page.

'Oh, would you look at this?'

Cale started to smile.
There was a phrase written on the black book.

< Find the mirror. >

The mirror.
He thought about the Condemnation of the Sun. It was a divine item.

Cale suddenly got the chills.

He started to wonder just how much story was not in the first five volumes of, 'The Birth of a Hero.'
How were things all connected?
Maybe everything had changed as a result of cause and effect now that this was the, 'real world.'

Cale had an image appear in his mind after he read the next phrase.

< Pull out the sword. >

It would start at the center of the Empire. The image in his mind would start from the bottom of the Alchemists' Bell Tower.

< And hand it to your warrior. >

Cale's gaze turned toward Saint Jack.

< Warrior, move forward without hesitation. >

He then turned toward Mary.

< The Queen of Death will create a path for you. >

The Sun God twins and the Queen of Death.
Cale got chills while thinking about the image that they would create in the Empire.
It was the good kind of chills this time.

He could see the fall of the Alchemists' Bell Tower, the tallest tower on the Western continent.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]