The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 58



Only Krnovel

Episode 58

The sun has risen.

I killed a goblin.

The sun has set.

I crushed the goblin.

He continued with simple repetitive labor. He caught and killed goblins as diligently and correctly as he fed feed to pigs.

“Are you sad?”

Twella asked. After thinking for a while, Quilbian pulled out the goblin’s tongue and said.

“I don’t know.”

“Then are you happy?”

“I don’t think so.”

“How are you now?”

“What am I?”

Twella came closer. She smelled something familiar. She whispered sweetly.

“Then shall I die now?”

Quillvian wrapped his tongue around Twella’s neck and pulled with all his might.

“No. I don’t like that.”

How many times day and night had changed, Quilbian could not tell. The very concept of time had long since disappeared from his mind.

Kill, kill, and kill again.

Only when there was no longer even a shadow of the goblin did Quilbian return to the tree.

To the tree where the hammock awaits.

“Plague.”

The hammock was worn out and broken.

How many more years have passed?

I leaned against the branch and closed my eyes.

Even though I close my eyes, I can’t sleep. But the world turns black, so my mind feels at ease.

I can’t see the goblin, what should I do now?

Beep beep.

A sharp cry poured down from the distant sky. It was an annoying noise.

He clicked his tongue and lay down on his side.

The sound of crying was heard again.

“Go. Don’t make noise.”

I crouched down.

There would be no movement for a while. It could be a few days or a few months, he didn’t know.

It is a body that does not need to eat or excrete. If you put your mind to it, you can live like a plant.

It was time to stop thinking and stare at the darkness spread out before my eyes.

A faint green flame flickered before my eyes.

Only one eye opened slightly.

A hawk with folded wings tilted its head and looked up.

Is that the guy who was crying loudly in the sky?

“If you eat me, you’ll get a stomachache. Eat something else.”

I tried to turn my body by waving my hands, but then I opened both my eyes.

The size of the eagle was a bit strange. It was big enough to easily catch a full-grown pig.

It wasn’t a goblin. I didn’t feel any sticky nak.

“What did you eat to grow so big? You were so small.”

He spoke with a hollow laugh and then frowned.

That little guy?

The words came out as if he had known it all along. He looked at the falcon again. It was a bird he didn’t remember. If he had seen such a large bird, he wouldn’t have forgotten it.

No.

I almost made another mistake. The most unreliable thing in the world is my memory.

“hey.”

I snapped my fingers. The falcon came waddling closer.

“You know me?”

The eagle’s beak touched my hand. It felt hard and rough. My hand moved on its own. I stroked the beak and tapped the round head.

This feeling was very familiar.

“I guess we were close.”

The falcon moved its large body and came into Quilbian’s arms. Even with its wings folded, it was still larger than Quilbian’s body.

“Hey hey.”

The stiff feathers scratched my face mercilessly. It stung like being scratched by claws.

The falcon trembled as it approached, then soon lowered its head.

This guy fell asleep in the meantime.

I tried to push it away but it didn’t budge.

“Okay, you too, sleep comfortably.”

As he was fidgeting and regaining his composure, Quilbian noticed something hanging from each of his ankles.

Wrapped around her ankle was a small pendant, a sleek, water drop-shaped ornament.

Eyes were caught.

A moment from the past that had been painted black and could no longer be seen flashed before my eyes.

A small hawk that threw apples.

A stellar memory emerged. Fragments of memories that were impossible to see as a whole began to gather together in one place.

Memories were stuck to one incident.

Because the memories were not arranged in chronological order, it was difficult to figure out what they meant.

“Don’t think about it.”

Twella, who had been quiet for a while, appeared. She continued to nag. It’s just painful, forget the past, look forward.

But Twella’s voice seeped in between the memories that had been gathered together.

Memories lose their focus again and scatter. They scatter through my mind, which is dark like the stars in the night sky.

I am convinced that if I let it go now, there is no turning back.

Quilbian swung his left hand and slapped away Twella’s illusion. The illusion, which would normally have shattered and disappeared, persisted today.

She appeared on the right.

No, it appeared again on the left.

Quillvian rolled his eyes.

Dozens of apparitions with the faces of Twella came out, arms outstretched and breathing sweetly.

“Forget it,” they said in one voice.

The world turned upside down. The intense light blinded my eyes. When I opened my tightly shut eyes again, I was sitting in a tavern.

“What are you doing, not drinking?”

Drich said, holding out the glass.

“… … .”

Quilbian raised his right hand and brushed back his hair. It seemed like he had an important appointment, but what was it?

“Hey. What’s wrong? What’s really the problem?”

Drich looked serious.

“No, that’s not it.”

“But why is that?”

“I think I had an important appointment, but I can’t remember.”

“A promise? What is it? Is it work-related? No, if it’s something like that, then there’s no way I wouldn’t know.”

“therefore.”

Drich chuckled and tapped the bar to call the owner.

“Please give me a glass of something really strong.”

The shopkeeper poured amber-colored liquor into a small glass.

“Drink.”

“I don’t feel like drinking.”

“That’s why you should drink more. It looks to me like you’re not drunk enough.”

Quilbian fixed his gaze on the alcohol. It made sense. When you are halfway drunk, your reason and instincts start to fight, creating unnecessary worries.

A problem that will be solved if you take it seriously.

He reached out and grabbed the glass.

“Drink.”

Quilbian lifted the glass to his lips. Now, if he just takes a sip, he will be free from his worries.

You will walk around the streets with Drich in a daze, then lie down on your bed and fall into a comfortable sleep.

Cozy sleep… … .

“wait for a sec.”

Quilbian looked at Drich.

“Fuck, I can sleep?”

I put down my glass with a thud and stood up from my chair.

“Hey, hey, why are you doing this again?”

“Shut up. I think I’ll remember it now.”

“What are you thinking?”

Quillvian pointed his finger at Drich’s forehead.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re screwed.”

“what?”

“You’re dead. You have a hole in your head. Yes, you were dead. Did you forget about that?”

“… … .”

Drich chuckled and shrugged.

“So what?”

Drich’s face melted away. Flesh dripped off and soon changed into another shape.

It was Twella.

She was wearing overalls and baggy pants. In a blink of an eye, she had changed into a glamorous dress.

I closed my eyes again and opened them again.

She was in front, wearing a black habit.

“Quil, poor Quill. Why do you cling to the past? Thinking about it only makes you miserable. Let bygones be bygones. That’s for your… … .”

puck!

Quilbian spun around and kicked Twella in the face. Twella’s body, head blown off, slowly fell to the floor.

“You talk too much.”

He turned his head to the left, looking at the blood-stained floor of the tavern.

The faces of all the customers sitting inside the store, including those at the bar, changed to Twella.

She was wearing different clothes and making different gestures, but the form of her laughter was eerily similar.

“This is fucking crazy.”

I turned around and grabbed the doorknob.

Then all the Twelves in the store shouted.

“You’re bound to come back anyway! You’re a broken human being. There’s no hope for you.”

Quilbian said, looking at Twella right behind him.

“know.”

I pulled the doorknob with all my might, watching Twella transform into a bizarre shape.

“… … .”

The scenery has changed.

It was a world covered in gray.

Quilbian knew this place.

I bent down and touched the gray sand. The fine particles lingered on my fingertips and then scattered in the wind.

I shook my hands and walked.

It was a quiet place.

A world filled with silence, without any hallucinations or illusions.

Quilbian searched his memory. The randomly mixed memories were gradually falling into place.

“I think there was someone here too.”

It was when I kept walking while scratching my head.

I saw a person crouching over there.

“Hey.”

I called out loud. But there was no response. Didn’t he hear me?

“Can’t you hear me?”

I started walking slowly and then gradually increased my speed.

“Hey!”

It was strange. I was halfway running, but the distance between me and the person in the distance didn’t get any closer.

He bent down and let out a ragged breath.

How long has it been since I last gasped for breath?

I started walking again, feeling dizzy and my eyes were spinning.

Something grabbed my ankle.

When I lowered my head, a hand came up through the floor and grabbed my ankle.

The gray sand trembled slightly, and Twella’s face appeared beneath it. She was smiling brightly.

“It’s gross, really.”

The body is sucked under the sand.

Only then did the person in the distance turn around and look at Quilbian.

She was a woman with a blurry face.

A woman came running towards me. But running didn’t feel very fun.

He hesitated for a moment and then fell down.

He couldn’t get up again because his leg was badly injured.

Quilbian was impressed.

embrace.

That all of this is an illusion.

The woman you can’t even see over there, Twella who is being pulled into the ground right now, and this gray world are all things that my broken mind created at its own discretion.

I know, but I still felt sad.

“Just lie down. Your legs seem to hurt too.”

The woman in the distance shook her head vigorously and then crawled, sweeping the ground with both arms.

If you do that, your skin will be peeled and it will hurt.

“What a stubborn friend.”

I looked down at Twella, giggling.

Quilbian’s body was already submerged up to his waist in the ground. Twella was laughing with his mouth wide open as if he was so happy about something.

“Is it good? Huh?”

Twella did not answer.

It just makes the laugh even more bizarre.

If I were to be dragged underground, would I open my eyes? Would I then forget all the things I had worked so hard to remember and go hunting goblins?

How many years?

Or a few decades?

“… …Should we just end it now like you said?”

I was buried deep in the ground up to my chest.

Everything became tiresome. Thinking, ruminating, feeling.

If I think about it, I was able to hold out well on my own.

You survived so many boring days.

If this is the result of holding on and holding on, then ending it now isn’t a bad idea.

I was stuck in sand up to my nose.

It wasn’t stuffy.

Rather, it was cozy.

If I take a short break like this, everything will be… … .

“Sorry!”

It was a word that instantly awakened my dulled senses.

“I had no choice!”

Quilbian opened his eyes to the voice coming from behind him.

My heart, which had been at peace, began to beat violently.

I reached out and grabbed Twella’s head. And I listened. She wasn’t laughing with her mouth open.

He was whispering very softly, giving up, resting, stopping.

“You are a truly poisonous person.”

Twella pushed her head into the ground and applied strength to her body. The body that had been buried in the sand rose up in an instant.

I came to my senses.

I survived for the rest of my life, I’ve made it this far, and now you want me to give up?

There’s no hope, so give up?

“Damn it! I’m going to live until I die.”

I recalled the voice that had awakened me from my waking state as I shouted to the sky.

That’s the woman.

It was when I looked back and remembered the woman crawling from afar.

Beep.

His eyes shot open with a sharp cry.

The eagle was looking at me with its sharp eyes rolling around. It opened its beak slightly and dropped what it was holding in its mouth.

What arrived in front of Quilbian’s hands after rolling around was a blackened coffee bean.

“… …Fucking coffee.”

An idea occurred to me.

(Continued in next episode)