Chapter 43. An Old Friend

“Maxim!”

As soon as he saw Maxim covered in ashes, Odekerkh shouted.

“Yo-Your Highness.”

Michelle froze, seeing Maxim show no reaction to Odekerkh’s cry.

Adellian, too, stopped her hurried steps as she looked at his back.

“No, why is everyone…”

Piontek, who had started moving last, also saw the situation and swallowed his words.

Everything that met the eye was a mess. There was no white, no brown, no red, nothing left.

Only gray ash. And within it sat Maxim, a Maxim from whom not a trace of life could be felt.

“Your Highness.”

Michelle’s eyes turned bloodshot. She staggered towards Maxim.

Odekerkh tried to grab Michelle. But Adellian stopped him. Michelle was one who followed Maxim. So her shock and sorrow would surely be greater than others. That’s why Adellian judged that she shouldn’t stop what Michelle was doing.

“Agh! Damn it!”

“Ugh! You scared me.”

At Maxim’s sudden movement, Michelle fell on her butt.

Maxim, who had dusted himself off and stood up, trembled while gripping his sword.

“Th-this! Son of a… Agh! This damn mongrel for real! Fucking piece of sh-!”

Maxim screamed at the top of his lungs, as if he was furious to the tips of his hair.

The others, seeing the suddenly revived Maxim, couldn’t say anything. They just stared at him with surprised eyes.

“If you’re going to die, die gracefully! Or answer my questions before you die! Where did you learn such a dirty trick, self-destructing? A crazy bastard self-destructing? This! Fucking son of a bitch!”

Maxim continued to pour out his anger.

Those watching him moved past their surprise and raised question marks at Maxim’s fury.

They didn’t know for what reason he was acting like that, or how the current situation had come about. And Piontek thought, could it be that Maxim had created this landscape that looked as if a conflagration had swept through?

“I can’t stand for this. How dare he try to kill me? Even self-destructing to do it? I! I’m going to catch the bastard who hired that pervert and separate his bones from his flesh. I’ll definitely do it. Fucking bastard.”

Maxim, having spat out a bucketful of curses, turned around with an angry face.

At this, Adellian, Odekerkh, Michelle, and Piontek flinched and cowered.

“I’ll hunt you down until I find out which bastard you are. For real. Just you wait until I catch you.”

Maxim started walking somewhere, fuming.

“Huh? Huh? Ma-Maxim.”

“Your Highness? Your Highness! Where are you going?”

“Hey, where are you going?”

“What’s with him?”

From Odekerkh to Piontek, everyone said a word to the departing Maxim.

But Maxim gave no answer.

“Your Highness!”

Michelle urgently followed Maxim. Then Odekerkh and Adellian, and finally Piontek, who had been shaking his head, followed.

“Wh-where are you going?”

“What’s all this about?”

Odekerkh and Adellian stuck to Maxim and asked for the reason.

Meanwhile, Piontek looked at the place where Maxim had been.

‘Wasn’t he fighting the pervert leader?’

The pervert leader was nowhere to be seen. And there were only burnt marks left.

‘Is he that angry because the pervert leader set the fire and ran away? W-wait a minute, he survived fighting alone? In a situation where everything is burnt like this?’

Piontek looked at Maxim with surprised eyes. There were scorched marks here and there, but he didn’t seem to be seriously injured.

“Maxim!”

Piontek, his curiosity overflowing to the point of exploding, ran to Maxim.

“Ah! What?”

Maxim, his eyes full of rage, shouted as he looked at Piontek who had grabbed him.

“Where are you going now? Don’t tell me you’re going to find that pervert leader, that bastard?”

“What are you talking about? Why would I look for a dead bastard?”

“Huh? Dea… he’s dead?”

“Can’t you tell by looking at that?”

Maxim pointed to the place that was burned down to ashes.

Piontek, as if he couldn’t believe it, scrunched his face and tilted his head.

“How?”

“What do you mean, how? He blew himself up. Ugh! The more I think about it, the more pissed I get. I’m warning you, don’t grab me. If you grab me one more time, I’ll slice your wrist off.”

Maxim slapped Piontek’s hand away with a Tak! and started walking again.

Piontek let out a hollow breath and looked back and forth between Maxim and the burnt place.

‘So, the self-destruction that bastard was talking about… was done by the pervert leader?’

No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t believe it. So Piontek grabbed Maxim again.

“Ah! Damn it! I told you not to grab me!”

“You have to explain in detail. We’re taking an exam right now. Taking it together.”

“So?”

“What do you mean, so? We’re comrades during the exam. Comrades. You told us to take care of the other guys too. Wasn’t it because we’re comrades?”

“……”

“Right. So you have to tell us what happened and where you’re going now. That way we can do something together, right?”

At Piontek’s words, Maxim slowly let out his ragged breath. He then looked at Piontek and the others who were looking at him one by one.

“Huu, comrades.”

***

“I’d rather die with you!”

The pillar of fire spewed out by the pervert leader instantly engulfed the surroundings.

“My death is a glorious flame!”

The guy let out a cry that was close to a scream from within the pillar of fire.

In order not to become food for the fire, I brought out all the mana I had without hesitation.

“For the Amirios! Forever!”

The pervert leader, his eyes fixed on me, shouted.

The flames grew fiercer. The tree branches, stones, and dried grass that had not yet been touched by the fire blazed up and turned to ash.

“Crazy bastard.”

I said, pouring a great deal of mana into Dawn.

“Crazy, yes! Right! Only by being crazy can one save the clan and become a hero!”

“What is that idiot talking about.”

I clicked my tongue. The guy was pathetic. It seemed he hadn't even checked what kind of person he was dealing with.

‘As if he would give you the money after you die.’

Those who requested deals with insane content, like asking to smash something or kill someone, were not in a good state. They only thought in ways convenient for them, and only considered their own interests. That’s why they would try to achieve what they wanted by any means necessary. Such incorrigible bastards don’t change even after 10 years, or 100 years. No, they would still be like that even after 1,000 years.

“Uwaaaaah!”

The pervert leader screamed. At the same time, parts of his body burst, and rough flames shot out. The pillar of fire, as if welcoming this, raged fiercely. It seemed determined not just to burn me to death, but to incinerate the entire mountain.

“Damn it, this won’t do.”

To overcome a blow thrown with a life on the line, do I have to risk my life too?

I bit my lip. No matter how I thought about it, that was the only way to overcome such a fire.

“Behold. The true form of the Mana Heart that your clan so coveted.”

I opened my Mana Heart wide. I focused all my nerves on the Mana Heart. I felt the path of the soul that connects the mind and the heart. At that moment, the pervert leader’s fierce pillar of fire, the ash scattering in the heat, and the shimmering air that dizzied the eyes all came to a halt.

‘Not with what is mine and alive, but with what is mine and forgotten.’

At the end of the soul’s path is the Soul’s Library made by Caesar. But the place I intend to go now is not the half-baked library of Caesar. It is that place, neglected for a long time and covered in dust, so huge that the size of its door cannot be contained in one’s eyes.

‘Leonhardt’s library.’

I grabbed the handle, on which the crude shape of a handprint was clear. With my current hands, I cannot cover the handprint. The library door, as if wanting to say this, conveyed a sense of weight I had never felt before. It seemed to be warning me. Not to touch something I cannot handle.

‘I know.’

I know what kind of warning it is. The Soul’s Library I am trying to enter now is not Caesar’s.

It is Maximilian Leonhardt’s. It is a library of a different dimension, one that my current body cannot handle, one where an unprepared soul could crumble.

Clunk!

I pushed the door. A bookshelf filled with stories, stretching endlessly, came into view.

-Stop. This is not a place permitted to you.

A solemn voice echoed. The owner of the voice was the librarian who guards the library.

A Soul’s Library of a low class has no librarian. This is because there are not many stories to manage. But a high-class library has a considerable number of stories. Even if the knight created it himself, it is difficult to remember and retrieve each one. That’s why knights of the 4th Star or higher make a contract with a soul’s librarian. To manage the accumulated stories, to immediately retrieve a story suitable for the situation, and to strictly control the access of others.

-I warn you. This is not a place permitted to you.

It was not just a verbal warning. A powerful energy emanated from the endless bookshelf and stabbed at me.

-If you take a wrong step, your soul may be shattered, so turn back now.

The stern voice of one who has guarded the library for a long time continued.

I faced it with my whole body and stepped into the library. The energy grew even fiercer. It was clear in its will not to allow me to enter any further.

‘Ram.’

I said the librarian’s name.

The energy that had been pouring out from the bookshelf stopped. And Ram, draped in a cloak, revealed himself. He was just as he was when I first saw him. Well, being a soul, it would be strange if his appearance changed.

-Who are you that you know my name?

‘An old friend.’

-My friend died long ago.

‘He did. But not quite. You remain as proof, don’t you?’

-My friend was not favored by the gods, so he did not receive an invitation to the afterlife. His soul must be lingering somewhere. That is why this place remains.

I smiled bitterly at the fact that he had silently guarded this place alone for hundreds of years, a place no one visited.

‘Right. They dislike me. Then and now. And I dislike them too. That’s probably why I’m here, right?’

-…Are you truly my friend?

‘Check the texture of my soul. It should be the same guy you knew.’

Ram lifted his cloak and walked over with steady steps. He placed a hand on my chest as I stood there. A blue light emanated from Ram and enveloped me. The light looked into my chest, my head, my eyes, here and there.

-This cannot be.

Ram’s surprised face was clear.

‘Because the gods disliked me. Or maybe someone needed me. I think that might be how it happened.’

-That could be so. It has been a long time.

‘It has been a long time.’

-As you can see, this place is as well-kept as ever.

‘Yes, it seems so.’

I smiled and was about to take a step towards the bookshelf.

But Ram did not permit it. He extended his hand and blocked my approach.

-It is a pleasant thing to meet like this, but what cannot be, cannot be. My friend.

‘Hmm… if I die, this place will disappear too, you know?’

-…Are you on the verge of death?

‘Why else would I come here?’

Ram stroked his chin and fell into thought.

I tried to use that gap to approach the bookshelf, but Ram was a seasoned librarian. No matter what method I tried, he blocked all my paths.

-No matter how I look at it, with your level, you cannot handle the level of this library.

‘I know. But I have to try.’

-Even if your soul might be annihilated?

‘My soul is about to be burned away. I have to do something, don't I?’

-I thought it might be, but you have truly become a different person. Then have you not created a new library?

‘I have one, but there are no stories.’

-Then it is even more impossible. You know it too, don't you? The moment one with a small library enters a high-class library. Everything collapses.

‘That’s if you covet what belongs to another. But this is mine, isn’t it?’

-Uh… I-is that so?

Flustered, Ram scratched his forehead. It was a sight I hadn’t seen in hundreds of years.

-Even so, with your current self, you cannot handle the level.

‘We’ll know when we try.’

These were the stories I had accumulated. Although the achievements I made with Caesar’s body are meager, the level of my soul is not.

-My friend…

Ram grabbed me with a hand full of worry.

I patted his hand a couple of time.

‘Watch.’

Since these are the stories I built, they will open a path for me.