The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 56



Only Krnovel

Episode 56

What is a dream and what is reality?

In fact, it wasn’t important to distinguish between the two phenomena, because it was meaningless whether it was a dream or reality.

“Quil?”

Quilbian looked at the first pig sitting down, taking off his hat. His fur had turned black.

“It turned black.”

“I think you were out in the sun for too long. Your fur is now dyed like this. What’s going on?”

“It suits you well.”

Oink oink oink.

It was the first pig who was sorting out the bill with a hazy smile.

“This month is a deficit.”

“Because construction has stopped.”

“Quil, go find some work. If we keep doing this, our store will close.”

“Is that easy in a recession?”

The first pig scratched its head hard with its foreleg.

“Is it time to move to another city? I can’t keep up with the growing number of competitors.”

The door opened with a creaking sound. A wolf with a long mouth poked its head in.

“Oh my, you’re still doing business.”

The wolf smirked, glanced around the store, and clicked his tongue.

“The door is open, but it looks like there are no customers?”

“This guy, let’s see, let’s see.”

The first pig jumped up and went towards the wolf.

The two argued for a while, then went outside and raised their voices.

Quilbian watched the two with his chin resting on his hand, then tilted his head back.

Whoosh!

A boulder passed before my eyes.

Quilbian crouched down and let out a deep sigh. Behind him, a pig and a wolf were fighting, and before his eyes was a cat with its head cut off.

Cats have the minor characteristic of having a human-sized body and arms on their shoulders in addition to the four legs that support their body, but they are cats anyway.

“Why? Do you have something to say too?”

The goblin, who had either taken over the body of a cat or happened to resemble a cat, threw a rock again.

A heavy thud passed past Quilbian’s head.

The power was good, but the accuracy was terrible.

“If you throw it like that, even a blind bird won’t get hit, right?”

I had to set an example.

Quillbian grabbed the rolling stone and let out a slurp of Nak on the stone he was holding.

“Look carefully.”

I threw it lightly at the cat. The stone flew in a smooth parabolic arc.

The cat jumped up into the tree. Thinking he had dodged perfectly, the cat settled into the branch and took it easy.

Quilbian tilted his head.

“You’ll die if you do that.”

The stone, which had been curved downward, shot upward. The cat did not react.

A rock pierced the cat’s torso.

The Nak the cat was holding exploded along with its body. It reached out its hand towards the flying Nak.

A black current seeped through Quilbian’s skin.

“You should have folded it when you noticed that.”

“This guy is really something! I can’t put it into words!”

Quilbian sniffled and looked back. The wolf and the pig were engaged in a friendly fistfight.

Yeah, blow it! Hehe, I should have avoided that. Quilbian leaned against the tree and watched the fight between the two.

Suddenly, people started to gather and separate the two. That was when the wolf, who had been growling, opened its mouth wide.

A cloudy light and intense tinnitus enveloped his eyes. Quilbian closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.

The workshop filled with pigs, wolves, people, and the smell of wood was gone.

All that remains is the deep recording and the melting cat goblin.

Quilbian sat down in front of the half-melted cat.

“Hey, what seems real to you? Is it real that pigs and wolves are fighting, or is it real that headless cats are eating people?”

The cat didn’t answer.

Quillbian lifted his foot, stepped on the cat’s corpse, and turned around.

It was a gloomy day.

On days like this, you should just lie in a hammock and look up at the sky.

I climbed the tree and settled into my cozy bed.

“Quil.”

Drich was lying in the bed opposite.

“why?”

“You know, how long are you going to live like that?”

“What does it mean to live like that?”

“Look at you now.”

Quilbian lowered his head. He was seen in his shabby overalls. His worn-out work boots were a bonus.

“How about this?”

“A man must dream big. Now is the time to start a business that bears our name.”

“Hey, if you leave the union, it’s going to be a real struggle. It’s better to just live moderately within the fence.”

“After you’ve wasted all your youth there? That’s really the end.”

Drich jumped out of bed and opened the window wide.

“This place has changed a lot too. It used to be a village with nothing, but now it’s just like any other city.”

“yes.”

“What do we have in our hands while our homeland changes like this? We have nothing.”

Drich, who had been looking outside, looked at Quilbian again.

“Quil, but you know.”

“What now?”

“Can you really live like that? Have you forgotten anything?”

The same question asked over and over again.

Quillvian looked down at his body once more.

A piece of cloth that was almost completely worn away. Bare feet that had turned black. Countless scars.

“… … .”

Quilbian frowned and squeezed his eyes shut.

“What did I forget? Drihi, huh?”

I looked to the side. All I could see were tree branches. Quilbian let out a hollow laugh.

“You rotten bastard, you should just give me the answer and then disappear.”

Can you live like that?

It was a question that scratched my nerves mercilessly. It had been a long time since I had had such a headache.

I had forgotten the word worry for a while, but it suddenly came back to me.

Damn it.

I can’t stand seeing my friend living comfortably.

I got up. My damaged brain was chewing on the tail of the question. The problem is that this brain doesn’t listen to its master.

If you tell yourself not to think about it, it will make you think about it. If you tell yourself to forget about it, it will keep showing you.

Can you live like that?

Even the sound of the wind began to sound like that.

“Ugh, what do you want me to do?”

If I see a goblin while I’m out and about, I catch it. I spend the day like that, and when the light disappears… … Ah, when the sun sets, I go back to bed and wait for sleep that won’t come.

It was an unchanging routine.

A fixed life with no room for distracting thoughts.

How good is it?

Phew, a loud laugh came out.

It’s not that good.

The brain that had completely given up on thinking started working for the first time in a long time. Thinking, thinking, thinking again.

The illusions that were always there disappeared.

The time has come when the boundary between reality and dreams becomes clear.

It was Quilbian’s most hated moment.

Because every time I come to my senses I feel like shit.

Of course, it was a contradiction to recognize that he was sane. After all, the subject verifying validity was ‘me’. How could a crazy person discern anything?

So I just feel like I’ve come to my senses.

The problem is that the feeling itself is uncomfortable.

Quillbian rolled his head, smelling the wet forest.

How many days have passed? No, how many months or years have passed?

My sense of time is completely distorted.

Because sleep has disappeared.

A continuation of thoughts without interruption.

We sense the passage of time through the phenomenon of the sun rising and setting, but it does not remain in our minds.

Fragments of unchanging reality and images of Quilbian in fantasy, now completely integrated into reality, took over my mind in no particular order.

It was the same a little while ago.

The brain sees a pig fighting a wolf, while the eyes see the real goblin in front of them.

Although it was overlapping, there was no confusion.

Because it has become a normal part of my daily life.

Even calling himself crazy was a bit of a whining, as Quilbian was aware that he was broken.

“Let’s see.”

Quillvian looked at the ground.

I looked at the crawling bugs and recalled memories of the past few weeks.

Catch a goblin, catch another goblin, and then catch another goblin.

“ah!”

Royle, and Jen.

I wonder if they are doing well?

I moved while I was thinking about it.

There is a very high chance that you will lose your purpose and wander off along the way, returning to the tree, but in any case, your brain is working right now.

I’m sure it was Daisy.

Did you see me yesterday, last month, or last year?

It’s confusing, but I’ve seen it a few times, and when I pick up a human while wandering around, I bring it to that guy.

Finding the traces was easy.

Because a group of humans scatters Narcs, you can easily encounter them if you chase after the mixed Narcs.

How many times did day and night change like that?

Quillvian found a group of humans huddled together, camped out in front of the hut, each holding a weapon carved from wood.

I looked at them and thought seriously.

How many of those humans have I killed?

It might have been so.

They thought it was a goblin and caught it, but it might actually have been a human. After all, what a madman does is usually a mess.

“If I did something wrong, I will first apologize.”

“… …Who are you?”

“Ah. I don’t know.”

It is understandable why the other side was hostile. They probably thought it was a goblin in human form.

Should I explain that it’s not a goblin?

Then suddenly this thought occurred to me.

Is it really necessary to explain the circumstances and look for those kids? If they had been capable and lucky, they would have lived, but if not, they would have died.

“He must be dead.”

Quillbian laughed bitterly.

This is the realm where goblins run wild.

Only the most unlucky people fall here. How long can a person who is transferred here with only his body and no means of survival last?

I also know that there are groups that can survive for years, and that can be called tribes.

But they are a very small minority.

Most of them disappear. Either into the stomach of a goblin or into the stomach of a comrade who was guarding the seat next to them.

Anyway, let’s go inside the ship.

“Take care. I’m going to go now.”

It was when I turned around and waved my hand.

“Just a moment.”

Someone broke away from the crowd.

He was a fairly tall young man. His eyes were sharp. The people around him were looking at the young man who stepped forward with confidence.

Are you a spiritual pillar?

Quilbian stared blankly at the young man who had called him. When you call someone, you should speak, but the young man just smiled.

“Can’t you speak?”

So I asked first.

“No, you can.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“That’s… I can’t believe it.”

“The world is inherently unbelievable. I know that very well.”

The young man put down the rough stone axe he was holding and approached. The people standing behind him raised their voices in concern.

“Do you remember me?”

The young man asked.

“This is a really tricky question. I, on the outside, look fine, but… … .”

I looked down while talking.

A human running around wearing only rags.

The other side didn’t look very good either, but they were still wearing tanned leather.

“It doesn’t look normal.”

After a small laugh, he continued speaking.

“Anyway, my brain is crazy. That’s why I can’t recognize people. So I’ll ask you. Do you know me?”

“I know, I don’t know very well, but I definitely know.”

The young man approached and grabbed Quilbian’s hand.

It was the first time in a long time that I felt the touch of a human being, so it was very awkward.

“I’m leaving, Royle.”

The young man said.

Quilbian nodded and said, “Aha,” then looked up at the sky.

“This is really fucked up.”

The little boy in my memories had now grown up into an adult.

So then, how many years have I been here?

I could only snicker at the horrible thought.

(Continued in next episode)