Chapter 14: Epilogue
The frozen tundra began to thaw under the gentle touch of spring sunlight.
The world that Dale and Lize cherished emerged from its eternal ice, and the hands of time, long frozen, began to move once more.
As the empire of winter melted away, another empire revealed itself.
The Grand Magic Empire, once the most formidable in history, had reappeared in all its glory.
An empire ruled by the Black Gold Emperor, a force so powerful that none on the continent dared to oppose it, had put an end to the age-old conflict between gold and shadow.
In front of the capital of Saxon.
Knights clad in black armor, marked with the emblem of the night raven, stood in formation.
They had sworn eternal loyalty to the House of Saxon, both in life and death, and now they too had awakened from the ice.
As soon as they saw the man in tattered robes, they all knelt in unison.
Clang!
The sound of metal armor clashing echoed as they planted their swords into the ground in a knightly salute.
The man walked forward, unfazed. Behind him, a young girl hesitated, overwhelmed by the incomprehensible scene.
The Night Raven Knights, now pledging their loyalty to the Saxon dynasty.
“His Imperial Majesty approaches!”
Their voices rang out towards the robed man, and Yufi held her breath. Even a country girl like her could grasp the gravity of the situation. She recalled the words of the Marquis of Rosenheim.
The Black Gold Emperor, once hailed as the most powerful magic emperor on the continent.
Dale stopped walking. At the end of the ceremonial line stood those he loved.
A girl with her eyes bandaged stood there, leaning on her parents.
An unforgettable elf mage was present.
There was the dark maiden who claimed to be Dale’s shadow, and the leader of the Night Raven Knights, loyal to the House of Saxon.
A woman was there too, once the greatest swordswoman on the continent, now a mother carrying two lives within her.
Dale approached them, and they said nothing.
They simply understood, accepted, and affirmed him.
Dale couldn’t know what had transpired here as the empire of winter melted away. He had been journeying across the continent to this land. What had happened in the meantime, and how they had come to accept this world, he couldn’t say.
He simply approached them, bowed his head, and then collapsed, his body giving way.
Kneeling before them, Dale began to sob. Emotions beyond words poured from his throat.
“Welcome home, Dale.”
His mother, Elena, embraced the weeping Dale, speaking softly. Dale could say nothing in return.
“Brother…?”
At that moment, his bandaged sister reached out. Their father, standing by her side, gently guided her hand to Dale.
“Father.”
“Come here, Dale.”
Alan of Saxon, once known as the Black Duke, smiled at Dale. Dale reached out to Lize, who was groping the air.
Holding Dale’s cold hand, Lize asked again.
“Brother? Are you there…?”
“Yes, Lize. It’s me.”
Dale replied. At his words, Lize reached out to touch Dale’s cheek, to feel his presence.
Beyond the black bandages Lize wore, there was no longer the power once held by the founders of Saxon. The blue power she once possessed was gone. It was the price Lize had to pay, a sacrifice she and Dale shared.
Those they loved were there. And the empire they built together with their loved ones stood there.
At that moment, a conversation with the Golden Lord, Ray Uris, came to mind.
’…My story has ended. The Black Gold Empire is the same. So at least, there will be no more of us recorded in your book.’
Dale had said. It was true. There was no longer a mission for Dale on this continent, and the conflict between gold and shadow was no longer his concern.
Yet Ray Uris had asked again.
‘But will it really be so?’
On this continent, gold and shadow, emperor and revolution still clashed. And when the Fourth Empire, once called the Grand Magic Empire, and the Black Gold Emperor appeared in this world.
Dale and his empire realized they could not escape the pages of Ray Uris’s “Book of Blood.”
Just as the revolutionaries had once dragged Dale, who had turned his back on the world, back into it.
In an age where magic was dying. Just as Dale had once done, his empire would have to face the world again.
Yet nothing would change. He lifted his head and looked at his empire.
The Night Raven Knights, the necromancers of the Black Tower, and those Dale loved.
His father, Alan of Saxon, renowned as the greatest dark mage on the continent.
The divine sword Charlotte and the light sword Sir Helmut Blackbear, the shadow’s sword and the dark maiden Aurelia. The elf mage Sepia.
Realizing this, Dale let out a hollow laugh.
“Ah, damn. It was a good dream, but the aftertaste is terrible.”
The man was there too, in a room of the Saxon palace, with his feet propped on a desk.
“Was it a good dream?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
The Sword Master Baro took a swig of beer, cursing, while the “Shadow Saint” beside him smiled silently.
“We all dreamed a happy dream. But in the end, it was a false dream.”
“Did you wish not to wake from it?”
“That wouldn’t be so bad. But a dream is only a dream because we wake from it.”
”…”
“Even if His Majesty had affirmed that child’s will, it would have ultimately failed. Yet because we dreamed it, we learned something.”
“What did you learn?”
“How to dream a dream that never ends.”
At those words, Dale caught his breath, and the Shadow Saint rose silently.
“Now, my knight.”
”…My lady?”
“You must have dreamed the same dream as I did. I too, with these eyes, have come to see many things.”
“Pfft, cough!”
At her words, Master Baro spat out his beer. Watching him, Dale cursed, and then noticed Baro’s face turning uncharacteristically red.
“Thank you for protecting me, Baro.”
The Shadow Saint said.
“And can you stay by my side until the end?”
”…Didn’t I promise?”
Master Baro bowed his head, and Dale gave a wry smile at the sight.
“Then I’ll take my leave as the intruder.”
Ignoring Master Baro’s continued words, Dale turned away.
Blessing their dream that would never end. And towards the dream that lay before Dale, one that would never awaken.
“Charlotte.”
“Dale.”
As soon as she saw Dale, Charlotte smiled warmly.
She was no longer the Charlotte who feared and trembled before Dale. Instead, she was a wife who understood and affirmed him more than anyone else, feeling the life stirring within her.
“I had a dream.”
“Yes.”
Charlotte’s dream, remembered from the empire of winter, was both Dale’s dream and hers.
‘I was so afraid that this happiness would shatter like a dream.’
He remembered her smiling in that unending illusion, indistinguishable from happiness.
So Dale gently reached out and caressed Charlotte’s cheek.
“I saw your dream.”
He said as he stroked her cheek.
“And I will never let your dream break.”
“I was afraid of you.”
Charlotte said.
“Of you becoming the Black Gold Emperor, atoning for the world’s sins with your empire. It felt like the Dale I knew was gone.”
“It was all my fault.”
“Yet the you standing here now is the Dale I know.”
”…”
Dale said nothing in response. He simply reached out and kissed Charlotte.
“I will never let your happiness break.”
Dale said after the kiss. At his words, Charlotte silently wept.
The empire of winter melted away, and everyone awoke from their dreams.
“From the beginning…”
Only after coming this far could he truly understand what Lize had wished for.
Why, in the empire of winter that Lize had built, the Dale she loved most was left alone in the world.
So Dale asked.
His sister, her eyes wrapped in black bandages. But the Lize Dale faced now was no longer the trembling, weak girl groping in the dark.
Like the founders of Saxon, her empty, jet-black eyes pierced through to the truth beyond.
“Did you know it would come to this from the start?”
At that moment, he saw Lize’s shadow before the empire of winter. It was an undeniable truth.
Despite everything, the shadow of Lize that Dale was observing revealed another truth.
“Have you forgotten the teachings of the Blue Tower, brother?”
”…”
The art of deception and lies.
As an agent of the Blue Tower, the key was to never realize you were an agent at all.
This rule applied even to the rulers of the Blue Tower. Lize was no exception.
“You even deceived yourself.”
“No, brother. I never deceived myself.”
His sister, the master of the Blue Tower, spoke with her eyes covered by black bandages.
“My truth was an undeniable truth. I just didn’t realize I was a puppet dancing to the strings of another self. But brother, that other self and I are not separate beings.”
Lize continued.
“I never wanted you to suffer for this world. Neither did that other self.”
“Like mother, like daughter.”
Dale couldn’t hide his amazement and laughed.
“Your empire and the world do not fear you, brother. And there is no longer any suffering you need to atone for in this world.”
Lize spoke as if she had fulfilled her mission and had nothing more to wish for.
“So even if you come to hate me, I’m content. I’ve completed my mission.”
”…”
Dale remained silent at Lize’s words.
After a moment of silence, he quietly reached out and embraced her.
“Thank you, Lize.”
At those unexpected words, Lize caught her breath. The master of the Blue Tower, the mistress of deception and lies, stood silent in Dale’s embrace.
And then, like a child, she burst into tears.