Chapter 311
Episode 95: Those Searching for Her (Part 1)
“The Spirit Orb is a damaged recording device, and to fix it, I need to… meet the master?”
The sudden revelation nearly made me choke on my own breath.
“Aria Owlheart—that’s the name of the mage you mentioned before, right? The one aiming for the ultimate form of the Annihilation Flame Jade Demon King?”
“That’s right, Jin. You remember.”
“Is that person connected somehow to the recording device Solderet left behind?”
I asked casually, pretending not to know, and Misha met my gaze.
“There’s probably no direct connection. All the arrangements Solderet left for you were prepared a thousand years ago. That kid, barely seventeen, couldn’t have helped create the device alongside Solderet.”
“Then why does that name come up now?”
Murakan snapped irritably. After hearing names like Pikon and Olmango before—both unfamiliar to him—he was clearly annoyed by yet another unknown name.
Ignoring Murakan’s grumbling, Misha locked eyes with me again.
“About four hundred years ago, there was a family called Hister in the mortal realm.”
Hister.
The family to which Aria Owlheart’s real name, Valeria Hister, belonged. Misha was one of the few who had firsthand experience with the magic of the Hister family.
“They were an exceptional clan of mages. Small in number, but powerful enough to threaten Ziphl. Every member of the Hister family possessed a transcendent quality—not just a few stars of power, but a mysterious force beyond numerical measure.”
As Misha spoke, Murakan tried to recall where he’d heard the name ‘Hister’ before.
“But their greatest value wasn’t in combat ability—it was the civilization they built through magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“Records. The Hister family possessed a unique magic of recording that no one else could replicate. A magic that could create perfect records, impossible to distort by any means.”
“Perfect records that can’t be tampered with? Setting aside whether that’s even possible—history is always subject to someone’s bias, interpretation, or agenda.”
“I don’t know what the Hister family’s intentions were in how they viewed history. But what caught my attention was that Ziphl couldn’t manipulate their recording magic to distort history.”
Murakan’s eyes widened at that.
“So, you’re saying it’s recording magic… You’re not the type to spout nonsense, even if you’re a bit rough around the edges. Makes sense. The Hister family must have been wiped out because of their recording magic—by Ziphl. And Aria Owlheart is a descendant of that family.”
“Exactly. What’s gotten into you? You usually just use your head as decoration. Brother, try thinking once in a while.”
Murakan was about to snap back when I spoke up.
“So, Misha, when you say I need to meet Aria Owlheart, a descendant of the Hister family, it’s because of that recording magic, right?”
Misha nodded.
“I can’t fix the recording device myself, so it’s best to show it to her. I’m not certain, but she might be able to help. She’s currently restoring the Hister family’s recording magic. Though, you don’t have much reason to ask for her help.”
“Misha, I don’t know how much you trust her, but she’s still an outsider. This recording device is Solderet’s legacy—can we just let a kid handle it? Even if she’s partially restored the recording magic, tampering with a device made by Solderet is another matter. This is a spirit artifact, after all.”
“Didn’t I say the Hister family had transcendent qualities? I’ve personally experienced the recording magic used by Hister mages in the past. When it comes to records, they can handle anything—whether it’s made of mana, spirit energy, or something else entirely.”
Her confident gaze made even Murakan curious about the Hister family.
Despite her foul temper and being more devilish than the great demon of hell, Murakan had to admit that her judgments were usually spot on.
“Hmm… So, what will you do, kid? Meet her or not?”
“Of course. Neither you nor Misha can fix the device, so there’s no point in hesitating.”
“So we’re hoping Aria Owlheart can properly repair the device. If she can’t, we’ll have to scramble for another plan. But Misha—”
“Yes?”
“How did you find out Aria Owlheart is a descendant of the Hister family? Since Ziphl wiped them out, she must have been hard to track down.”
“I had a promise with Aria’s ancestors. I owed them a debt.”
“Protect the surviving descendants?”
That was news to me.
From what I remembered, after Valeria was raised by the Gray Owl Mercenary Corps—who were slaughtered by Ziphl’s mages—she never relied on any person or faction. She might have used others, but never depended on them.
Before she reached out to me, a broken Jin, she was always alone.
Back then, I wasn’t strong enough to truly help her.
Just before my previous life ended in the Kingdom of Akin, she left the house we shared without a word.
Whether that was a decision to be alone again or just another brief journey for research, as she often did, remains a mystery.
That question will never be answered. My past self died, and now those memories belong only to me.
“It wasn’t protection—it was the opposite.”
Misha answered Murakan’s question with a bitter smile.
“My promise with the Hister family was to watch over the descendants who survived Ziphl’s monsters. If any of them, overwhelmed by hardship, tried to hand over Hister’s magic to Ziphl… I was asked to eliminate them.”
“That’s a cruel request.”
My voice turned cold as I spoke.
I was angry at the ancestors of Valeria who made such a request to Misha.
“It is cruel. But so far, not a single Hister survivor has sided with Ziphl. They have no family to lead them, can’t even use the Hister name, and yet, despite Ziphl’s oppression, every one of them lives with the mission to restore the recording magic.”
“Fascinating. Even though the family is gone, their loyalty remains so strong?”
“There must be a unique recording magic passed down only to the survivors. It seems the Hister family’s mission and memories as mages keep that bond alive.”
Misha had a vague idea about the Hister family’s “Legacy Site.”
I nodded heavily.
Suddenly, I recalled my days as a trainee rider, when I pretended to be someone else to become Kidad’s disciple.
I’m sixteen years old, and as you know, I possess seven-star mana. The mana I gained at the Legacy Site is said to be something only pureblood Histers with perfect mana bodies can have.
You were raised by the mercenary captain, and you know what a perfect mana body is? That term is lost even in historical records.
I learned it when I entered the Legacy Site. As soon as I stepped in, all kinds of recording magic unfolded, teaching me what a perfect mana body is. Then, since I met the qualifications, they passed the mana on to me. I can’t prove it otherwise.
The Hister family’s Legacy Site.
As Misha said, all surviving Histers could obtain the records, magic, and mana left behind by their family there.
“Aria Owlheart is the last remaining Hister. Like the others, she endures Ziphl’s oppression and pursuit without yielding. She’s as strong as you.”
“Uh, yeah!”
Suddenly, Murakan shook his head as if something had just come to him.
“Hey! Misha, I remember now. Ah, that feels good. No wonder the name Hister stuck oddly in my ear.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know if it’s genuine, but we have a magic tome from a Hister mage.”
“What?”
“When the kid first became a trainee rider, we wiped out the underworld of the Akin Kingdom. At that time, we bought a magic tome by Shuziel Hister at an underground auction. Two hundred gold coins.”
Misha looked surprised, glancing between me and Murakan.
Item 25: A magic tome left by the mage ‘Shuziel Hister.’ Place your bids!
Two hundred.
Two hundred, anyone else?
What’s that, kid? Another hunch?
Just in case someone finds it strange to buy only one. Plus, I had a good feeling.
At the Tesing underground auction, I bought Shuziel Hister’s magic tome for a bargain price of two hundred gold coins. I considered it a bigger prize than the Multa Rune or Chenmi’s magic tome.
The tome was undoubtedly authentic.
Only I and my master knew the cipher system it contained.
I had been thinking about this for a while but hadn’t mentioned it yet, hoping for a more natural chance to explain it to Misha.
Murakan even sketched the cipher system from Shuziel Hister’s tome with pen and paper.
“I looked at Shuziel’s tome while decoding Chenmi’s, and the cipher was so frustrating I still remember it vividly.”
Misha examined the cipher carefully and then said:
“It’s clear. You drew it a bit roughly, but I’ve actually seen Sujiel use this kind of cipher system in her lifetime. It’s almost identical. Damn… So Sujiel’s grimoire was circulating in some underground auction?”
“Huh? Misha, you’ve actually met Sujiel Hister? I thought the cipher was so strange it must be fake.”
“Sujiel Hister is the one who asked me to watch over her descendants. Two hundred coins? Unbelievable. Where is that grimoire now?”
“It’s kept in Tikan. I’d forgotten about it myself—it’s been years.”
“That’s perfect. I was just wondering how you’d approach that prick. The grimoire you have must be the real deal. Looks like you and Aria were destined to meet after all.”
“You don’t think this is some setup by Solderet, do you?”
“There’s a chance, Murakan.”
Jin thought it probably wasn’t, but saw no need to say more.
“Jin.”
“Yes?”
“Meet that girl. Use Sujiel’s grimoire to make a deal. Ask her to restore the recording device.”
His heart pounded hard.
Jin took a steadying breath and met Misha’s gaze.
“…Do you know where the mage Aria Owlheart is located?”