novelones Chapter 167: Leaks in the Soul
Chapter 167: Leaks in the Soul
For the first time in a long while, Mitsuki returned to that inn where Ellegaard had kicked his ass. A large part of the place had been destroyed back then, so he had no idea what the inside of the establishment looked like now.
’It barely feels like I just gave such an arrogant speech to the person who’s supposed to be my magic teacher. Though those thoughts are things I’ve been holding in for quite a while already. It was easier to let everything out without the limitations of my emotions.’
He didn’t feel proud—he couldn’t—but at the very least, he hoped it would improve Ellegaard’s attitude because despite being the most extreme tsundere imaginable, she wasn’t a bad person.
Mitsuki knew the eyes of a bad person, and Ellegaard didn’t have those eyes.
’Well, I hope Lulu didn’t go bankrupt.’
The inn still looked the same from the outside, but inside?
He stepped into the building, only to be surprisingly greeted by the same tidy place he remembered.
Lulu was serving food to customers while wearing her apron, but this time there was a tanned, heavily muscular young man at the reception desk glaring coldly at anyone who looked like they might bother the others. He had short brown hair and the same eye color as Lulu.
When Mitsuki entered, the young man frowned as if he already knew him.
Lulu recognized him almost immediately.
"Mitsuki?! You came back..." she said. She looked like she was seeing a walking corpse.
"Yeah, I guess so. I wanted to ask for a room."
"Ah— Right, of course. My older brother is at the counter. He’ll help you."
He looked at the young man, and the man returned the stare coldly.
"You had a brother?" Mitsuki asked.
Lulu nodded.
"Of course I do. He used to stay in the kitchen all the time, but after what happened with Ellegaard, he decided to handle customers himself. We had to hire a cook, but at least the work isn’t as hard now."
"I see... Thanks, then."
She nodded, and Mitsuki walked toward the tanned young man.
He looked him in the eyes for a moment.
"Excuse me, I’d like a room."
The young man sighed. From beneath the counter, he pulled out a key and placed it on the table.
"The third one by the right wall. Don’t destroy anything again because even if you pay for the damages, it’s disrespectful to wreck other people’s businesses."
"Uh—yeah, of course. What happened that night was both my teacher’s and my own mistake. It won’t happen again, and I’m really sorry about that."
"It’s fine as long as you understand. My sister has worked very hard to maintain this business; I don’t want it to fail."
Mitsuki nodded.
"I can understand that. Once again, I’m sorry."
He gave a brief apologetic bow and headed toward the room upstairs.
’Third on the right...’
Once he found the door, he didn’t hesitate to enter and lock it behind him. Being disturbed now, when he needed to complete his soul restoration routine, was not something he wanted.
He removed his cloak, storing it inside Spatial Storage, then sat on the floor in a meditative position.
’Good. There’s not much to prepare before soul restoration, so this’ll be quick.’
He closed his eyes. He submerged himself in the ocean of black mud.
Those eyes of the Shadow still stared from the sky, like twin moons destined to remain motionless forever.
The Throne of the King remained just as sinister as ever, alongside the columns made of hands twisting grotesquely.
This was Mitsuki Kirishima—or at least, this was what his "inside" looked like.
His soul reflected within the black mud was no longer as broken as before. Most of the cracks had closed, but a few thin fractures still remained and needed to be filled. That was the purpose of soul restoration.
Mitsuki sat atop the mud and, strangely enough, closed his eyes. A new plane of existence revealed itself before him: particles of prana alongside the fractured soul.
’Seeing my soul in third person is still completely insane. I wonder if someday I’ll be able to see in third person without having to enter this place. That’d actually be pretty useful. I mean, my field of vision would be way wider.’
Putting aside Mitsuki’s gamer thoughts, he stirred the particles and guided them toward his soul.
The remaining cracks slowly began to close with a distant creaking sound.
But then something happened that interrupted the process. Some kind of mist-like energy began leaking out from the cracks.
’What is this?’ Mitsuki wondered, frowning.
This wasn’t something Ellegaard had mentioned before. What was it? The energy continued leaking out slowly.
Still in third person, Mitsuki reached his hand toward the energy, but the moment he touched it, he suddenly sank into the black mud.
The mud violently stirred, as though a tsunami had erupted within the "Throne Room." It dragged him into a distant memory from the past that blended with the darkness of the void surrounding the hall.
Within the memory, Mitsuki wore black armor and walked across battlefields between the border of Warlock and Axorhibis.
He fought enemy soldiers using his strange stone sword, so heavy that no normal knight could lift it without enhancement magic.
’This is... a memory of the Master of Cinder, Morgan.’
It was the first time he had experienced one of that specter’s memories. However, everything was blurry and chaotic. There were countless corpses, blood, and weapons embedded in the ground. Massive magic circles filled the sky—circles firing water meteors, storms of fire, yellow lightning, and much more.
It was a large-scale war, but someone was leading the battlefield while wielding that powerful golden sword.
In front of Morgan, Arthur raised his blade. With a single slash, the rainy sky was cleared. With another slash, the earth filled with life as the corpses became nourishment for the flowers and grass that sprouted from the ground.
The armies of Axorhibis and Holylight had united to crush Warlock’s army.
The gathered knights fought endlessly against spells exploding across the battlefield while the main knights in impenetrable armor carved their path toward victory.
Everything seemed fairly favorable for Morgan’s side, but...
’How strange. This has never happened before, but... why do I feel so much hatred?’
He looked at Arthur, and that hatred seemed to intensify like gasoline thrown onto a flame; his hatred toward his own younger brother was far too overwhelming to control easily.
Morgan clenched his fist and whispered.
"Arthur..."
The memory distorted with lines of purple pixels. The ground beneath Morgan’s feet turned black, and a massive number of hands made of black mud spread across the battlefield, crushing every enemy with uncontrollable fury.
Arthur looked at him for a moment and said something, but Morgan ignored him completely. Instead, he turned his gaze toward... a shadow with hollow white eyes silently watching from the distance.
Then Morgan looked down at the ground. Runes in an ancient language displayed information Mitsuki knew very well.
[ ❖ Name: Morgan Le Fay Pendragon
❖ Level: 30
❖ —
❖ —
❖ — ]
The rest of the information was blurred.
And just like that, the memory faded away. Mitsuki opened his eyes near the throne and grabbed his head. Outside, his meditating body was sweating coldly and frowning in discomfort, but within the immense puddle of mud, Mitsuki nearly collapsed face-first into the liquid as he felt every part of his body and soul weaken.
"It was... it was him..."
He looked toward the sky, toward the hollow eyes staring down.
"It was the Shadow..."
None of this made any sense, but he had seen it with his own eyes. It was the same shadow that had made him accept becoming the Herald of the Unnameable.
’Why was the Shadow there? Why was it watching Morgan? Is it connected to the Four Great Ancient Mysteries? Why was there a system screen?!’
Even though his questions echoed throughout the space, there was no answer to satisfy him.
’What’s happening? Is my soul a gateway to Morgan’s memories?’
He continued wondering that, but suddenly the door knocked, pulling him out of the Throne Room and back into reality.
"Mitsuki, sorry to interrupt you," Lulu said from the other side of the door. "Someone sent... something for you. It’s waiting for you downstairs."
"Waiting for me? Oh— Right. I’ll be there in a second."
"Sure. I’ll keep it distracted."
Lulu walked away, and Mitsuki sighed. He pressed a hand against his aching head and squeezed his eyes shut.
’Damn it. Every time I discover something, I end up with even more questions than before. And the worst part is that this isn’t even the first time it’s happened.’
He stood up and walked toward the door.
’When will the day come when I finally uncover everything? At this rate, it feels like an endless road.’
He left the room and walked downstairs. Lulu was waiting for him near the inn’s entrance. In fact, several customers were staring in that direction with confusion.
It was already late at night, but there were still a few customers around.
Curious, Mitsuki stopped beside Lulu, but he raised his eyebrows in confusion because lying there before him was an adorable creature barely one meter tall.
Above its head was a letter that read: "For Mitsuki Kirishima."