Chapter 691 – Magic School Shutra (5)
The dean hummed as he climbed the stairs.
“Hmm… There are stairs here. It wasn’t there before.”
The standards of the past were very ambiguous.
For some, it’s the past, but for others, it’s history.
Luna, who took the lead, answered with a bitter smile.
“It’s a place I’ve seen since I was born… Can you tell us what it used to be like?”
“Well… The last time I saw it, there were no stairs. In fact, at the time, battles often took place here, so there wouldn’t have been time to install the stairs.”
The dean reminisced about her past and told Luna her old story.
Luna listened to the dean’s words and climbed the stairs slowly.
Luna listened to the dean’s stories to the point that sometimes she tripped on the stairs.
‘But… After all, this story is about the history related to the Stadtfeld family.’
I was just interested.
No, rather, I would like to record the story with my ears.
History, no matter how well written it is, is bound to change its meaning over time due to incorrect language.
However, the tone of the experience at the time remained in the dean’s words.
The urgency and looseness calibrated for the modern times must be re-arranging the history of the Stadtfeld family in Luna’s head.
After hearing the history of the Stadtfeld family, which was the dean’s former job, she arrived at the grave before she knew it.
As soon as I arrived at the graveyard, it was none other than the spirits that greeted me.
By the way…
(Are you here again? You must have plenty of time.)
(I guess that friend is bored too.)
(Tsk tsk, young friend already has nothing to do…)
Rather than welcoming it, it was grunting as if it was getting tired of it.
Claudia lashes out at those grumbling souls.
(These are the things you should greet when the elders come!)
(Ah! Oh, sorry…)
(Oh, are you here. Claudia-sama…)
Hehe…)
I just got a feeling
‘Looks like you’re dissatisfied with me bringing Claudia…’
The spirits here were caught by Claudia from the first day of her spurt, and her pulse was sluggish.
The expressions of the souls sent messages to me with their eyes.
-Please leave quickly. A little!-
Today is the last day anyway, so be patient.
I entered the cemetery building with a smile as I thought to myself.
Unlike me, the dean and Luna moved forward slowly, remaining silent, befitting the quiet atmosphere.
The place we arrived at was…
“… Claudia.”
It was where Claudia’s large tombstone was located.
A tombstone listing the year of her death and the countless achievements she left behind.
The dean did not smile or cry.
Expressionless.
Rather than an emotionless expressionless expression, it was as if he just didn’t know what kind of expression to make.
And at the dean’s expression, Claudia…
(In the past, when I said I didn’t like it, why did I keep waiting for a girl like me…)
She bowed her head, unable to look at the dean with her sad eyes.
Seeing the two people separated like this, it was not easy to catch the emotional line.
The dean is somber, Luna is silent to match the mood of the dean.
Claudia sheds tears of regret, and her souls are silent as they watch her.
The atmosphere flowing between life and death was so different that it was difficult to figure out where to go.
A voice broke the silence.
“I like to spend time here. If you are tired, you can leave first.”
“Oh, no. While we were also visiting, we decided to look around the tomb.”
“Heh heh heh… Thank you.”
The dean looked at the graveyard again in gratitude, perhaps considering Luna’s answer as consideration for him.
Seeing the dean’s face, I was troubled.
Unlike her other spirits, Claudia couldn’t get away from the ring.
Secretly leaving it around her graveyard, she wanted to make time alone with the dean…
(Ah… No. Please don’t leave me here. Just… Just take me somewhere else.)
“… ?”
Claudia was shaking like a girl going through a war.
She was puzzled
She thought that if she had missed her for such a long time she would want to be with you this moment.
(When you’re gone… I’m afraid of what that person will say to me…)
“…”
She didn’t know much about Claudia, but she did get a glimpse of how resolute she was.
Even she seemed unable to bear the accusation she heard from her dean.
‘I don’t think I’m going to criticize it, but…’
I thought so, put the ring properly in her pocket and told the dean.
“If you need anything, please call me without delay.”
“Heh heh heh… All right.”
With the dean’s answer, Luna and I started moving places.
Claudia regretted breaking up with the dean, but she was relieved.
Taking Claudia, who has such a complicated state of mind, and moving with Luna…
“… I’m here father, mother.”
It was the grave of Jurgen and Nora.
(I was worried that you wouldn’t come. I’m glad you did. Honey.)
(…Yes.)
Jurgen started staring at her Luna with a bitter expression.
Unlike Jurgen, Nora smiled brightly and asked me a question.
(Is the person who buried our remains also someone close to you?)
The person who buried Nora’s ashes.
It was Lena.
I had to do it myself, but there was no time to bury the remains due to various sudden events, so Lena did it herself.
Given Lena’s personality, she probably didn’t exchange any conversation as she buried her ashes in the cemetery.
I nodded cautiously to Nora, who was curious about Lena’s identity with her twinkling eyes.
(As expected… I can’t see her face very well, but she seems attractive…)
(That woman, her body movements are not normal… What the hell are you?)
The spirits asked me countless questions, but in the end there was no answer I could give.
Luna is by her side anyway, so she can’t open her mouth carelessly…
Luna, who had been silent while watching Jurgen and Nora’s graves, suddenly began to open her mouth.
“Suho, do you remember what I said before?”
“Like what?”
“Your father was strict.”
“Ah… I don’t remember.”
Jurgen shuddered at Luna’s words and lowered her head.
But Luna, who couldn’t see Jurgen, continued her story with a bitter smile on her face.
“He was very strict. He was punished for small mistakes, and for big mistakes… Needless to say, he punished me severely.”
“He never laughed, and he was always strict.”
“No matter how much I cried, he never stopped. When I was young… It even made me think that I might not be her biological daughter.”
Every time Luna continued to speak, Jurgen’s expression began to die.
(Kuuuuu…)
Now I’m starting to understand why Claudia wanted to get away from the dean.
Luna continues her speech, reminiscing about her past, but she speaks with the certainty that Jurgen, the person in charge of her, will not hear.
That was the moment when Jurgen’s guilt spread like miasma all over his body.
“Therefore… Thank you.”
“Yes?”
(…What?)
It was an absurd conclusion considering that Jurgen had expressed his sorrow over the strictness he had practiced so far.
Luna smiled and said as she crossed my arms.
“When I was young… It was really hard. I found out later. I think my father taught me how to live in the world instead of love.”
(…)
When a crisis commensurate with the suffering comes, it is difficult for those who have not suffered, let alone maintain their mental strength.
Just as you need to have muscles to fight, and it takes a lot of hardship to grow muscles…
Despite her extinction, the reason why Luna was able to endure like this must have been the help from her surroundings and the strength to overcome her hardships built up by Jurgen.
In the first place, Jurgen wouldn’t have driven her Luna without thinking…
It must have been to instill strong mental strength enough to endure her harsh experiences in her only daughter who would carry on her family.
Luna erased her smile and became more and more weepy, and then she burst into tears.
“Therefore… Sorry. The fact that she had feelings for her father when she was little… Because I couldn’t apologize.”
(Kuhhh…)
Jurgen could not hold it in any longer and began to shed tears.
Jurgen, who had been crying like that, suddenly ran out of the cemetery building.
Claudia smiled at Jurgen’s back and opened her mouth.
(Nothing different from before.)
(Nothing different?)
Claudia took a few glances at her Nora and at her eyes, then she let out a shallow sigh as she continued her story.
She (because every time she scolded her daughter, she came to me and cried and repented.)
(Ah… That, I didn’t know that either.)
It was a great banquet.
Jurgen had been educating Luna all his life, without even knowing the promised spouse.
‘… I don’t want to go on like this.’
I wanted to help. But there is a problem.
It was impossible for Luna and Jurgen to see each other and talk to each other in a normal way.
It’s like when Luna dies or she becomes a member of the ship… ?
The former was a situation that made me angry even thinking about it in the first place, and the latter was too risky a choice at the moment.
‘I want to let you two meet… Ah! If that…’
[Just in case, you two will stay here for the rest of your life anyway. We can meet up later.]
Just as Armonia said, Jurgen and Nora will stay here forever.
It won’t be too late to make Luna a member of her ship later, after completing the mission here properly.
Even if the two of them go to the afterlife after a while, it’s enough to use my [Soul Summoning Art].
But what I came up with was another way.
Although it’s not perfect, and it’s a method that leaves a lot of regret… I can definitely meet you.
I hugged and comforted Luna who was crying while remembering her plan.
I spoke to Luna, who had calmed down to some extent.
“Wait here. I’ll bring you some water.”
“What, now?”
“Yes. Last time I was leaving in a hurry, so I just left with the flowers burned. I want to formally apologize even now.”
“After… I see.”
Luna smiled bitterly and took her place again.
I’m sorry to leave him alone, but meeting Jurgen right now was an unavoidable choice as it was important.
So I left Luna and Nora and headed out of the building to find Jurgen.
‘Wait a little while, I’ll let you see my father…’
***
Even after Seongsuho returned, Luna quietly spent time looking at her graveyard like him.
After spending so much time, at some point, her neck loosened and her head began to tilt to the side.
And the moment her Luna’s cheek touched her holy guardian’s shoulder, she realized her condition and hurriedly raised her head and swallowed her breath.
“Huh…”
“… Are you tired?”
“Ah… Nope.”
There was no such thing as a clumsy lie.
Luna was not the type to feel her fatigue well.
But in the past few days, she’s been slightly below her usual mental threshold as a tidal wave of big things has flooded her in.
Even if good things happened in quick succession, they were big enough to upset her mind.
Luna, who forced herself to open her eyes again…
“Huh…”
She blinked her eyes again, and she leaned on Seongsuho’s shoulder.
Her eyes were still open when she leaned on Sung Soo-ho’s shoulder.
And in her eyes, the graves of her parents were coming in proudly.
But she…
“Huh…”
Eventually, with the graves of her parents in her eyes, she slowly began to close her eyelids.
As she closed her eyes like that, a scene as if she was traveling through space began to attack Luna.
‘… Good mood.’
The thing that appeared in front of Luna, who was full of happiness while wandering the universe like that…
“Luna!”
“Ah… Father!?”
It was Jürgen Stadtfeld, who had never appeared in his dreams.
