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Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 2.3




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THE OLD MAN IN MOURNING 

A heavy silence permeates the rocking carriage. 

Even an old man such as myself would not venture to make a joke in this atmosphere. 

The beautiful scenery of the imperial capital unfolds just outside the carriage window, but inside, the mood is dark and melancholic. 

But this much is understandable, considering our destination. 

Seated across from me, Tiva closes his eyes and bows his head grimly. 

Tiva was in charge of leading the imperial army’s attack on Sariella in order to support the Ohts Kingdom, but thanks to the attack on Keren County by those spiders I was following, that invasion is no longer possible. Instead, we are returning home. 

Tiva was investigating something else, too: the recent cases of children being kidnapped. 

These abductions are happening not just in the empire but all over the world, and Tiva is in charge of leading that investigation. 

At first, people suspected someone was capturing children and selling them as slaves. 

But now, the scope has become even bigger. 

The current theory is that a sizable organization is undertaking these crimes for a greater purpose. 

In order to crush this organization and rescue the kidnapped children, Tiva led an imperial army to chase after the kidnappers. 

However, the search has been less than fruitful. 

They located a hideout of the organization, but the only people they were able to capture were hired thugs. 

There was no sign of whoever is running the organization and no further leads hinting at its true purpose. 

If even this large-scale investigation turned up neither hide nor hair of the leader, they must be quite formidable. 

And now, we are headed to the home of one of the families victimized by these kidnappers. 

A mother whose baby was kidnapped three years ago. 

As you may gather from the state of our carriage, it is not good tidings we carry. 

No, it is grim news indeed. 

However, it is not the child’s death we must report. 

“Sir Ronandt, I do not think you need accompany me inside.” 

Unable to bear the silence, Tiva speaks. 

He has said the same thing countless times since before we entered the carriage. 

However, my answer is the same. 

“How many times must I repeat myself? It is my burden to bring this news.” 

“But—” 

“Enough!” 

My sharp tone silences Tiva at least. 

I am the one who brought this information back to the capital to begin with. 

I will not let anyone else bear this burden. 

Tiva stays silent, perhaps sensing my determination. 

The carriage proceeds through a quiet aristocratic neighborhood, finally stopping in front of one of the mansions. 

For a noble family’s home, it is rather small. 

That in itself is nothing unusual. 

However, this mansion’s overall appearance separates it from the rest. 

The garden is in ruins, and the house itself is damaged and dirty. 

It’s obvious at a glance that it hasn’t been properly tended to in years. 

The place is in such a terrible state that the entire grounds seem to give off a dark atmosphere, even in the middle of the day. 

A listless butler stands waiting for us in front of this desolate house. 

“Welcome. Thank you for coming.” 

The butler bows respectfully. 

Tiva and I bow briefly in return, then follow the butler inside. 

Unlike the outside, the inside of the mansion has at least been minimally cared for. 

The relative lack of furnishings makes it seem a bit dreary, but it has certainly been cleaned quite well. 

And yet, the bleak, dark atmosphere remains. 

The butler brings us to the parlor, where the master of the house is waiting. 

“Thank you for coming today.” 

The lady we’ve come to see bows her head automatically. 

The practiced gesture is just the same as I remember it last, but her appearance has changed drastically. 

She looks…gaunt. 

She used to be an impressive beauty even by the imperial capital’s standards, but now she’s a shadow of her former self. 

Her skin has lost its luster, her body has grown weak and emaciated, and she has aged far beyond her years. 

Having seen her in her prime, the effect is shocking. 

Knowing that I have to tell her something that will only drive her deeper into despair, even I feel hesitation. 

Now I understand why Tiva kept repeating himself. 

He was trying to stop me for my sake, but perhaps most of all, he wanted to prevent putting these people through any further suffering. 

But still, I have no choice. 

This is something she must know. 

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Sir Ronandt.” 

“Quite.” 

Normally, I should respond that she’s looking well, but I cannot bring myself to tell such a blatant lie. 

Given my uncharacteristically hard demeanor and Tiva’s glum silence, the woman has probably already guessed that we’ve come bringing bad news. 

Her already pallid face grows a shade paler. 

“I shall get straight to the point.” 

Once we’ve finished our greetings and a lady-in-waiting has brought us tea, I cut to the chase. 

“Sir Ronandt…” 

“No good can come of beating around the bush, Tiva.” 

Tiva is clearly signaling that I’m moving too fast, but in this case, I think it best not to hesitate. 

The lady of this house is a smart woman. 

No doubt she has some sense of why I requested that we meet today. 

If I drag out the conversation now, I will only cause her more anxiety. 

Sooner or later, I must tell her the truth. 

So it’s for the best to do it as quickly as possible. 

“Buirimus is dead.” 

At first, she doesn’t react to my blunt words. 

Or rather, I should say she can’t react. 

She freezes up without so much as a blink, leaving Tiva and I to hold our collective breath in silence. 

Time passes this way, until eventually the woman’s eyes begin to waver. 

Then, as if the meaning of my words has finally sunk in, she undergoes a quiet but drastic change. 

Looking upward, she covers her face with both her hands and begins to sob with a muffled voice. 

Tiva and I sit in silence still, watching over her quietly. 

As the woman weeps, I think back on my memories of Buirimus. 

Truth be told, I didn’t interact with Buirimus very often. 

He was a talented summoner, one of the prominent masters in the empire. 

As such, we had occasion to meet a few times, but that was true of most any of the influential people in the empire. 

We weren’t close enough that I could call him a friend, and while he seemed to respect me as a higher-ranked mage, I doubt Buirimus felt particularly close with me either. 

One could say that we were more than acquaintances but not yet friends. 

We would have had no relationship of note at all, until that incident. 

The incident when we encountered that great being in the Great Elroe Labyrinth and found ourselves fighting for our lives together. 

This was four years ago, when Buirimus and I led an expedition of elite troops into the Great Elroe Labyrinth in order to locate a mysterious monster that had been sighted within. 

According to eyewitnesses, it emitted such a dreadful aura that it was clear at a glance that this monster was a force to be reckoned with. 

At the same time, there were also rumors that its actions showed a surprising level of intelligence, so the summoner Buirimus was sent in the hopes that he might be able to tame the monster. 

Of course, I was accompanying them in the event that the monster was indeed so evil that it needed to be destroyed. 

But the mission ended in disaster: except for Buirimus and me, that great being wiped out the entire force. 

At the time, I had too much confidence in my powers. 

I was convinced that surely no monster could ever be stronger than I, even though I knew that legendary monsters existed, well known as beings too powerful for any human to face. 

It was this hubris of mine that brought about that tragedy in the labyrinth. 

If I had not burned that great being’s nest so rashly, perhaps the massacre could have been avoided. 

I know there is no use in dwelling on such things, yet I cannot help but think of it. 

Now, if events had ended there, I would still feel regret, but I doubt I would feel so indebted toward Buirimus. 

Certainly, I would still feel the guilt of letting his subordinates be annihilated, but perhaps we still could have drank together as fellow survivors. 

However, this was not to be. 

The higher-ups of the empire decided to place all the blame for our terrible loss squarely on Buirimus. 

That great being, who is now known as the Nightmare of the Labyrinth, ventured into the wider world after our encounter and began to wreak havoc. 

Rumors spread that it had left the labyrinth because our party had provoked it. 

I do not know if this is truly the reason that great being went outside. 

But even if not, it was very unfortunate timing. 

As soon as the Nightmare left the labyrinth, it destroyed an Ohts fortress, then took up residence in Sariella—Ohts’s sworn enemy—and began to help them. 

Notably, Ohts is an ally of the empire. 

If the empire took actions that had a negative effect on their ally, they couldn’t possibly ignore it. 

Someone, somehow, had to take the blame. 

And that responsibility fell to Buirimus. 

He and I were the only two survivors. 

And none of the higher-ranked officers were willing to step forward and shoulder the blame. 

Normally, that would mean that both of us would have been held responsible, but my position prevented this. 

I am the empire’s leading court mage. In other words, I am the strongest mage in the empire, and some even say I am the strongest human mage in the world. 

Perhaps I, too, believed that before I met that great being, but now such an empty title brings me no joy. 

But for the empire, it carries a great deal of meaning. 

They can use my name and power to intimidate other nations and keep them in check. 

Since the conflict with demons has quieted down, the Renxandt Empire has lost some of its prestige. 

The sword-king whose skills had earned him the reputation as a god of swordsmanship suddenly disappeared, and without the threat of demons hovering over them, the government officials grew corrupt. 

Dishonorable nobles began to flaunt their power, and even the better ones compared the sitting sword-king to his predecessor and found him lacking. 

And of course, if there is discord within the empire, then those outside it will begin to lose their faith in its strength. 

Thus, if they wanted to avoid harming their increasingly tenuous position, the officials of the empire could not afford to sacrifice me, one of their precious trump cards. 

Following this logic, those in power made it the official story that I was not involved in the Great Elroe Labyrinth incident. 

Thus, though the blame should have fallen on both of us, it landed on Buirimus’s shoulders alone. 

I was given the sentence of house arrest, scarcely more than a slap on the wrist, while Buirimus was sent away to the Mystic Mountains in the northwest, a much crueler fate. 

The Mystic Mountains is an unforgiving mountain range on the border, populated by countless powerful monsters. 

It’s such a dangerous and rarely explored place that it’s on par with the Great Elroe Labyrinth, so being stationed there is essentially a death sentence. 

Yet, Buirimus accepted this fate and left without voicing any protest about the decision. 

Even knowing that his wife had finally given birth to their first child. 

“This is quite the stroke of bad luck. I’ve just learned that my child has been born, yet I must be in this dark cavern without even seeing the child’s face.” 

I remember Buirimus’s crooked smile as he said this in the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

There was bitterness in his words, but it was eclipsed by the optimism in his eyes. 

The face of a father excited to meet his child. 

When we faced the master’s fearsome attack, and he bought me enough time to activate Teleport, I have no doubt he was thinking that he refused to die before seeing his newborn child’s face. 

And survive he did, only to be sent away to face certain death once again. 

As soon as his treatment was finished, no less. 

Which meant that he never got to meet his child before leaving. 

On top of being denied the moment he had so looked forward to, even if he did return from his dangerous posting, he would still carry the burden of being the one officially responsible for a failed expedition. 

And there was no guarantee that he would come back alive at all. 

From his wife’s perspective, her husband had returned with near-fatal wounds, only to be sent away to his possible death without even the chance for a reunion first. 

I can only imagine the heartache she felt. 

And part of the blame lies with me, too. 

I allowed the leadership to place the blame on Buirimus, and still I live free of consequences. 

Of course, in deference to that guilt, I wanted to do all I could to support the wife he left behind. 

“Thank you, but the thought alone is more than enough.” 

When I ignored my house arrest and visited this mansion, his wife politely declined my offer. 

“I have always known there was a possibility that something might happen to my husband someday. I married a soldier, after all.” 

She offered me a fleeting smile. 

Though she was putting on a brave face, even her makeup could not hide the redness around her eyes. 

“He did everything in his power to come home, I know. And since he came back alive this time, I’m sure he’ll be back again.” 

First she claimed to be resigned, but this statement of hope said otherwise. 

I know not how to describe my feelings in that moment, except perhaps embarrassment. 

At the time, I was fully prepared for her to curse or shout at me. 

But I never imagined she wouldn’t think to blame me at all. 

She had no thoughts to spare for anyone but her husband. 

I didn’t occupy even a fraction of her thoughts. 

I had assumed in my egotism that my existence would be a matter of great import to her, that she would blame me for what happened to Buirimus. 

But in her eyes, I didn’t matter one inkling. 

Somehow, between this and my fateful encounter with that great being, I was becoming painfully aware that I had thought too highly of myself. 

Perhaps her concern for her husband, Buirimus, and their newborn child left no room to contemplate me at all. 

Either way, it was clear that I was insignificant to her. 

Though I was called humanity’s strongest mage, I was keenly aware that to her, at least, I was nothing more than a trifle. 

Thus, I became aware of my own ego and felt embarrassed. 

In the end, despite his wife’s refusal, I found ways to help her anyway. 

I felt my mind could not be at ease if I did nothing. Perhaps it was more for my own sake than for Buirimus or his wife. 

I also reached out to all my connections to find ways to help the troops in the Mystic Mountains, where Buirimus was being sent. 

The rest was up to Buirimus himself. 

But while he was away, another tragedy occurred. 

The kidnappings. 

Buirimus’s own child was among those who were being kidnapped all across the world. 

Tiva led a special operation to try to track down the kidnappers, but to this day, there has been no progress. 

“I apologize that you had to see me in such a state.” 

Buirimus’s wife’s voice is still shaking as she pulls herself together to apologize. 

Tiva and I quickly assure her that she has nothing to apologize for. 

After her streak of ill fortune, there was no doubt that her heart had reached its breaking point. 

And then this terrible news. 

I could only imagine her feelings. 

“What…happened to him?” 

“We don’t yet know the details. But when I went to check in on him, I found that his entire troop had been wiped out.” 

Due to certain circumstances, I have been demoted to a station at a fortress in the north. 

It is relatively close to the Mystic Mountains, so I received information about Buirimus’s squadron there. 

When I learned that their regular communications had suddenly ceased, I quickly went to investigate, myself, only to find utter destruction. 

“Though it’s not certain, we believe that the cause was a unique ogre that appeared around the same time.” 

Buirimus was highly skilled, so there were not many monsters that could wipe out his entire troop so easily. 

And around that time, word had just started to spread of a powerful ogre that had killed several adventurers. 

Surely this was no coincidence. 

“It’s been decided that I will soon lead a special force to find and defeat this ogre. Though it may be small comfort, I will be sure to avenge your husband.” 

“And I will do everything in my power to get your child back home as soon as I possibly can,” Tiva promised. 

“…Thank you.” 

Buirimus’s wife bowed her head weakly. 

“Do you think it’ll be all right?” 

As we sat in the carriage on our way back from the mansion, Tiva stared out the window. 

He didn’t specify a topic, but no doubt he was referring to Buirimus’s wife. 

“Who can say?” 

Even I do not know the answer. 

Try as I might, I cannot hope to understand the feelings of a woman who just learned her husband has died and whose child has been kidnapped. 

It is not my place to carelessly say, She’ll be all right. 

“That depends on your work, good Tiva.” 

Some say that a mother regains her vigor if her lost child is returned, so perhaps Buirimus’s wife, too, could recover if things went well. 

“You must now face this with all your strength.” 

Tiva nods heavily. 

Of course, it’s not as though I think he was ever handling this investigation half-heartedly. 

Tiva has always been a hard worker, and he has his own reasons for taking this case especially seriously. 

“I swear that I will bring those children back alive. I swear it.” 

His voice contains an edge that he can’t quite disguise. 

It goes beyond righteous fury toward the kidnappers to a deeper, more personal rage. 

You see, Tiva has a son. 

Or perhaps I should say had. 

His son had a wife, and they had even given him a grandchild. 

The babe was born around the same time of year as Buirimus’s own son. 

It was his son’s first child and Tiva’s first grandchild. 

Happiness beyond compare. 

But after one fateful day, his son and his family were gone, never to return. 

Their carriage had gotten into an accident. 

However, in a later investigation, it was discovered that the tragedy was no accident at all but deliberately engineered by someone. 

In fact, the methods strongly resembled the modus operandi of the kidnapping organization. 

Had they targeted Tiva’s grandchild and accidentally killed all three? 

Or did they have some other reason? 

That I do not know, but it means that Tiva lost his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild all at once. 

Thus, this man has a very powerful reason for hunting down the kidnapping organization. 

I’m sure he feels just as strongly about it as Buirimus’s wife. 

“I shall assist you to the best of my ability.” 

Now that it’s come to this, I cannot simply sit by in silence. 

I have a dreadful premonition about this organization. 

A feeling that if they’re left alone, it might lead to something truly terrible. 

“…Even after your demotion?” 

Tiva looks at me blandly. 

Why, you little…! 

I scowl at the low blow. 

For reasons entirely beyond my control, I’ve been sent to the north at present. 

In fact, I did not have permission to be in the capital today, so I cannot move freely. 

“Harrumph! To send me away for such a ridiculous reason!” 

“No, I think it’s a natural punishment for nearly killing a hero. In fact, you should be pleased that you were not executed.” 

“That was just a trifling amount of training! Nearly killing is an outright exaggeration!” 

The reason for my demotion is simply that I was training Julius, my first apprentice. 

He demanded that I take him under my wing, so train him I did. 

However, Julius’s homeland and the so-called Word of God religion objected to my methods, and the Renxandt Empire unfortunately agreed, so I was banished to a far-off northern post for doing nothing wrong in the slightest. 

I suppose even the empire couldn’t cover for me if other nations were angry with me. 

But why would they get so angry about a small bit of training?! 

“No, that could hardly be called training. By anyone else’s standards, that was torture, understand? You must realize, Sir Ronandt, that your idea of common sense does not match the rest of the world.” 

“Hmph!” 

This is ridiculous! 

I just hit him with the smallest amount of magic to build up his resistance! 

It makes no sense whatsoever to punish me for such a thing! 

“Very well, then. I shall just do whatever I can. Starting with avenging Buirimus’s death.” 

Sitting in the carriage, my thoughts were already on the ogre that killed Buirimus. 



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1 Comments

2 Years, 4 Months ago

Capitulo Too sad !!!!

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