Chapter 331
Episode 103: Records of the Past – Steward Leet Damiro Yul (1)
The spirit orb that Leet produced looked a little different from any Jin had seen before.
It shimmered with a subtle black glow, was smaller in size, and when Jin looked closely, he could see people and landscapes inside the orb.
Instinctively, he knew.
This was an uncorrupted recording device.
The scenes within the orb were records of the past it contained.
“What do you mean by saying we won’t be able to remember you, Leet-nim?”
“Just as I said, Jiple’s historical manipulation is still very much in effect.”
Jin had heard a lot about Jiple’s tampering with history, but he had never experienced it firsthand.
He had only seen others—especially those connected to the old Runcandel—suffer memory issues.
So he found it hard to believe. The memories felt so vivid. Could it really be that once he left this space, he would forget Leet’s existence?
As if reading Jin’s thoughts, Leet gave a bittersweet smile and pulled out a quill from her cloak.
“Give me your hand.”
Leet wrote her name on Jin’s outstretched palm.
Moments later, as Jin stared at the name inscribed on his hand, a chill ran down his spine.
Leet Damiro Yul.
…Damiro Yul… Yul…
‘The letters of Leet-nim’s name are fading…!’
A shiver ran through him.
He already knew that Jiple possessed the power to manipulate history.
But feeling it firsthand was an entirely different matter.
[Contractor of a Thousand Years, Lord Jin, you have likely visited the two tombs before. You must have met the guardians there.]
“…Yes, I met the guardians modeled after Silderay and Sara.”
[They seem to have vanished from my memories as well. Unlike them, I am not a guardian forged from spirit energy. I am a living being. That is why I continue to disappear from your memories.]
She was not a guardian made of soul and spirit energy, but a living person.
Unlike Silderay and Sara, who had already passed on, she was gradually being erased from history.
[I wish I could tell you more about Runcandel a thousand years ago, but sadly, I have very few memories left from that time.]
Though fairies are said to have lifespans as long as dragons, no being in this world would want to endure a thousand years alone with fragmented memories.
Jin found it difficult to find the right words.
[Don’t look at me so sadly, Lord Jin. The erasure of my history is but a glorious wound earned by protecting my family and the world as a member of Runcandel.]
Leet spoke calmly. Though she had lost most of her memories of Runcandel, her blind affection remained intact.
“…The price of protecting your family is unbearably harsh.”
“But without such a price, Runcandel would have been completely erased from the world. How is Runcandel now?”
“After Jiple, it’s the second most powerful force in the world.”
Leet beamed brightly.
[See? It was a sacrifice worth making!]
Like an excited child, she spoke with a lively voice.
[Didn’t I say? Temar, surely we can protect our family…]
Their eyes met.
Leet stared at Jin for a moment, then shook her head.
[Oh dear, I made a mistake. Sorry.]
“It’s alright, Leet-nim.”
A brief silence fell.
Jin felt even more troubled seeing this pitiful fairy embarrassed.
[The Runcandel of my time has almost been erased from history. The most powerful magic swordsman family in the world has vanished. Since we made a pact then, Runcandel now cannot use magic.]
“That’s right.”
[But since you are the contractor of Solderet, the curse placed on Runcandel won’t affect you.]
Fwaaah…
Jin formed a sphere of magic on his palm. Leet gazed at it as if entranced.
[It’s a light, the one we saved.]
“I am currently the only magic swordsman of Runcandel.”
Leet summoned her own magic.
A strange wave emanated from the spirit orb, and Jin recalled having seen this magic in the past.
‘Recording magic!?’
The magic Leet used was very similar to the recording magic of the Hister family.
The Hister family was active between 1400 and 1500 years ago. The fairies were said to have perished long before that.
Zzzt.
Ch-chit…!
The spirit orb began to activate, emitting a familiar faint noise.
Could there be some connection between the fairies and the Hister family?
Just as Jin thought this, Leet spoke.
[You seem surprised, Lord Jin.]
“I’ve seen similar magic before.”
[This is not magic, but a special ability unique to our fairy race. We are born with near-immortal lifespans, but…]
Wheee—
The unstable noise from the spirit orb gradually softened.
It was a sound Jin had never heard from a damaged spirit orb.
[We bear the duty of recording.]
To observe and record the world.
That was the reason for the fairies’ existence.
[Though we possess great power, we rarely interfere in the mortal world. Even when tyrants ravage the land or human culture veers off course, we only record. That is our role.]
“Then, Leet-nim, a fairy, having a position in Runcandel must be because Jiple was manipulating history.”
Jin pieced it together, and Leet nodded.
[Exactly. If they hadn’t tampered with history, I would never have met Temar or become the steward of Runcandel.]
Leet Damiro Yul was originally the most noble of the fairies.
The name ‘Yul’ was reserved only for the fairy king.
[But at some point, I was moved by Temar and began to see myself as part of Runcandel. This stormy star feels more like home than my original birthplace, the Primordial Forest. Compared to the years I spent in the forest, the time here feels like a fleeting daydream…]
Now that even those memories were nearly erased, Jin couldn’t begin to imagine the depth of Leet’s loss.
[Ha ha, this is no time to dwell on forgotten memories.]
“Leet-nim.”
[Yes?]
“Do you know the Hister family?”
[That name is unfamiliar.]
“The people of that family use a similar ability—recording magic. Though Jiple wiped them out, I know the last survivor of the Hister family. Perhaps I could ask that person to restore your memories.”
[An interesting story. Humans who use magic similar to ours… But restoring my memories is impossible.]
“Still, shouldn’t we try?”
[I cannot leave this place, and once you leave this pocket dimension, you will forget everything about me. So it’s impossible for you to ask that person to restore my memories. Even if they truly have that power.]
Leet took Jin’s hand and placed it over the spirit orb.
[Still, you won’t completely forget me. As far as I know, I appear a little in this recording device. I can only show you once, so look carefully.]
Wooooooom!
The magical waves radiating from the spirit orb intensified.
At the same time, Jin felt as if his mind was being drawn in, and he was able to view the records contained within the orb.
Though storms raged all year round, that day’s tempest was especially fierce. The faces of those seated in the Stormstar council chamber were grim.
On one side of the room lay thousands of blank sheets of paper, all slightly crumpled as if they had been handled before.
Scribble, scribble, scribble…
Stewards and scribes tirelessly wrote on fresh sheets.
They were recording.
The recent events the fairies had endured.
Hundreds of people simultaneously wrote the same content in different words and interpretations.
(March 3, 797: Runcandel records Jiple’s historical manipulation of the fairies. March 4, 797: Five fairies—Shil Damiro, Beka Tishke, Mulias Mon, Trika Tredos, and Zen Mainu—are forgotten among the fairies…)
(…year, March 3: Runcandel records Jiple’s… March 4, …five people Shil, …)
Even as the stewards and scribes recorded, the words faded.
It was like pouring water into a leaky jar. Yet they desperately continued writing the same things.
Because if they didn’t, the fairies would be completely forgotten.
But this was no baseless fear—they had already witnessed things being erased this way.
What was even more terrifying was this:
If the fairies disappeared completely, someday Runcandel itself might be erased from history in the same way.
Jiple… those madmen… to erase living, breathing fairies like this…!
Diana, the Tenth Knight, exploded with rage. Everyone else in the chamber shared her feelings.
They all knew.
This method would never stop the fairies from vanishing from history. It was only delaying their extinction by a thread.
Even a living being—
Once erased from history, he ceases to exist from the very start. No one recognizes him, and he, in turn, loses himself.
Ziphl’s ability to manipulate history went beyond merely distorting the truth; it reached the point of completely erasing it.
How could such power be wielded by a mere human, not a god…? If not for the fairies’ strength, we would never have realized that their history-altering abilities were this formidable.
The teenage knight, Padler, had said as much.
Indeed, without the fairies’ “recording ability,” Runkandel would have remained forever ignorant of the truth.
But at this rate, the fairies will soon vanish.
No one will be able to record the truth—for Runkandel, or for the world.
Screech!
The butler, Luet Damiro Yul, entered the conference room.
“You’re here, Butler.”
Diana gave a slight nod, and Luet summoned a translucent window of magic in midair.
“Everyone, look at this. There is hope. I’ve discovered that even Ziphl’s history manipulation has its limits…!”
Her voice was excited, a stark contrast to her pale face.
On the translucent window she conjured, these words were inscribed:
“Elona Ziphl and 3,026 other mages attempted to alter the history of Temar Runkandel but failed, unable to overcome the immense power of his existence.”