EndlessFantasy Translation EndlessFantasy Translation
“Grimm, you…”
Pausing for a moment, she asked quietly, “Where’s my sister? Is she already…” Over the past two hundred or more years, that calm, steadfast look in her eyes had long drowned out other impulsive emotions.
Grimm stared at the devout Mina that stood in front of him, as if she stood out from the rest of the other devotees. Those other devotees wore self-sacrificial expressions on their faces, looking sober and solemn.
Nobody knew if the youthful years during their sorcery apprenticeship were as insane as Mina’s. The long matured Mina of now, did she remember those heydays of hers?
Two hundred or more years have gone by so quickly. The once flaming crazy girl during her sorcerer apprenticeship had now already become a true sorcerer.
As for himself, the same two hundred or more years had passed. In the eyes of his former peers, was he no longer the Grimm from their memories? Had he become so much of a stranger?
Grimm had no idea.
At the moment, Grimm could only try to recall the blurry memories of his youth stored in his soul. He felt it faintly, the eternal struggle, the petty squabbles, the euphoric feeling of anticipation, and the most precious of all, the memories of his little comrades, forever carved into his heart.
Was this one’s maturation when walking the path of a sorcerer apprentice to becoming an official sorcerer?
Grimm smiled.
The smile was covered by the Mask of Truth, so Mina wasn’t aware of Grimm’s expression. The wisdom and steadiness of an official sorcerer was expressed through Grimm’s body. In comparison to the eternally fighting, brilliant true genius of her memories, the mysterious Grimm in front of her right now was so unrecognizable.
“Millie’s doing very fine. This demon-hunting expedition had been very successful so far. She’ll return after an estimated twenty years.”
The words of a sorcerer brought relief to peoples’ hearts.
This was because Grimm would never lie to Mina about such matters. Even if Millie had indeed died, he would not make up pointless fabrications to bolster Mina’s feelings.
Sorcerers had already come to accept life and death with open arms. Dark Sorcerers in particular did not easily sympathize with the weakness of others.
Mina’s red lips curved into a peaceful smile broke across her beautiful, fiery face. Unconsciously, her fire-red hair fluttered in the air, revealing her ability to manipulate the Fire Element completely. As if trying to hide from Grimm’s gaze, her eyes looked away at her fellow devotees.
“This is an old acquaintance of mine, allow me to host him myself.”
With nothing much to say about it, the other devotees proceeded to do the sorcerer’s greeting ritual before excusing themselves.
Before becoming a guardian, the only objective of these devotees was to selflessly dedicate themselves for the Sorcerer World. Even if they were to slave away, they were not unlike the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers that kept dreaming about the sorcerer barriers. They were instead, seeking as much approval from the Principal Will as possible.
Until one day, these approved devotees are chosen as the World Guardian after an arduous selection process. They would then jump straight to heaven in one huge leap, earning the admiration from other sorcerers in the Sorcerer World, the day they become the true guardians of this world.
Click, clack, click, clack, click…
Grimm noticed that Mina was wearing high-heeled wooden Geta. Her small, delicate feet were bare.
Within this vast, hollow tree hole, the sound those Geta made echoed nonstop through its walls Licks of flames from the Body of Flame floated out mystically from her red robes from time to time but both of them were silently trying to control their own peculiarities.
“Kyrie from Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy never walked out from the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings. He is yet to be recognized as an official sorcerer,” Mina said without turning around, as if talking to herself.
Grimm nodded his head and replied, “Oh.”
As a sorcerer apprentice who naturally received the ability to perceive the Relative Space Boundary, Solumn had already notified Grimm of Kyrie’s situation, so the news came as no surprise to Grimm.
Another thought floated into Grimm’s consciousness, and he suddenly said, “Right, Victor had fallen in the current demon-hunting expedition.”
“That Machine Heart Victor? He had fallen?”
Shaking her head slightly, Mina continued, “I find it hard to believe that the strongest fella during the rookie try-out period had indeed died in his first demon-hunting expedition.”
‘Strongest?’
Grimm suddenly jolted, he asked in disbelief, “So it wasn’t you that was the strongest sorcerer apprentice during the rookie try-out period?”
Mina flashed a look at Grimm as she turned around. She looked at the pair of doubt-filled eyes underneath Grimm’s Mask of Truth, as if to reassure herself that Grimm really was oblivious to the truth. Making an echoing series of ‘click, clack, click’, she continued her stride forwards.
“Of course I was the strongest after the Phantom Thief destroyed his Machine Heart.”
‘Machine Heart!’
Now that Grimm thought of it, back when he was assigned to Lefay’s group to seize the Flame Fusion Bead, when he faced obstruction from the Void Worm, he indeed always saw Victor busy studying the Machine Heart, something he didn’t know what it was back then.
‘It turns out Victor was attempting to reconstruct the Machine Heart huh?’
At that moment, Grimm had realized that the truth of the world and the truth that one knew was two very different worlds.
“What about that Phantom Thief?” Grimm followed up with another question.
“That guy is indeed very perplexing. You’re interested in his abilities? I’d advise you to rethink your decision.” After a cold laughter, Mina continued, “Fifty-five years ago, the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings had officially listed that guy as a Black Sorcerer on the run in the Sorcerer Continent.”
‘Black Sorcerer?!’
As a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer, Grimm couldn’t help but acknowledge the fearsome Black Sorcerers.
These evil sorcerers were the ones who collected ‘Despair of Humanity’ and used it against other human sorcerers!
They were like a tumor to a living creature. They resiliently infested the Sorcerer World and the Sorcerer World could do nothing to get rid of them completely.
This was because to the average sorcerer, Black Sorcerers were too strong to handle. Only battle-hardened elite Demon-Hunter Sorcerers who obtained an array of resources through continuous demon-hunting expedition battles were able to try to hunt down these Black Sorcerers. It was either this, or high-level sorcerers were called upon to annihilate these Black Sorcerers.
“It’s been fifty-five years and the Holy Tower of the Seven Rings still hasn’t seen any other sorcerers take up the offer? Grimm asked.
Mina shook her head. “Don’t look down on him. In the past few years, it wasn’t that no sorcerer took up the offer of reward. He had already had six official sorcerers killed when they tried to get him, and a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer was even among his list of victims!”
Grimm grew surprised in his interaction with Mina. As they gradually walked deeper into the tree hole, the refreshing Life Essence of a type of flowering plant grew thicker in the air.
Drip, drop, drip, drop…
An emerald-green pool of water appeared. It was like the accumulation of water droplets from the stone stalactites from the cavern walls.