Turning Chapter 1054

Yuder quickly turned his head.

“You finished reading it?”

“Yeah. You were right—it was a letter from Luma.”

Yuder had expected Inon to start explaining the contents of the letter imdiately, but what ca next was completely unexpected.

“Give your hand.”

When Yuder stretched out the hand Kishiar wasn’t holding, Inon slapped his palm with a loud smack. It didn’t hurt, but it was startling.

“...What the hell?”

“What are you trembling for? Thought sothing might happen to the mont I read it?”

As Yuder blinked slowly ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) and looked down at his stinging palm, Kishiar let out a laugh.

“Mmh. A truly elegant expression of anger. And thanks to it, even the trembling in this hand has completely stopped.”

Only then did Yuder realize all the strength had left both his hands.

“When people are lost in useless thoughts, the best way to snap them out of it is by giving them a different kind of shock. It works. Try using it yourself next ti he zones out again.”

“Thanks for the advice. But unfortunately, I don’t think I could pull that off. That seems like a thod only hyung-nim could manage.”

“Oh, is that so? Then go use your own tricks. You’re good at those. You know—talking your way through and charming people into a daze.”

“Lately I haven’t felt as confident in that as I used to... but hearing that kind of recognition makes feel good. I’ll keep at it.”

Yuder couldn’t help wondering if Inon and Kishiar had sohow grown closer in the short ti he wasn’t paying attention.

While he was still processing that, Inon turned and looked at Yuder directly.

“Before I go into what I figured out from the letter, I want to tell you about the promise I made with Luma. Sit.”

Both Yuder and Kishiar took seats in the newly arranged chairs. Inon idly turned the wooden piece in his hands as he began to speak.

“Mm... Right. I guess it starts from when I first opened my eyes. A long, long ti ago, after I first woke up here, I spent quite a while living only inside this place. It was just and Luma. A quiet ti. He taught everything—from the basics of human common sense to what I was supposed to do. He said that once I was ready, I would go to the Capital and beco its guardian.”

“...”

“I was basically a newborn back then, so I didn’t know what exactly Luma was researching, or why he sotis wouldn’t let leave and would talk with soone upstairs. Now I suspect that ‘soone’ was probably the First Duke of Ta-in... though it might’ve been soone else, too.”

“...”

“I don’t know how long I lived like that. When I’d grown to about how I look now, Luma started leaving the hilltop of Girandru more often. He said he needed to find leads related to his changed research subject. He also said that the contract with the spirit that had offered its soul was nearly complete, and that there was no longer a reason for him to stay here as before.”

It was hard to read any specific emotion from Inon’s expression. Normally a candid and emotionally rich person, in this mont he felt more like a tree, silent and still.

“Honestly... I felt kinda abandoned. Back then, Luma was my whole world. And suddenly he felt like soone who just saw as a job to finish. So guess what I did?”

“...I don’t know.”

“Either ran away or started a fight.”

As Yuder silently reflected—he’d never felt that kind of bitterness, even when his grandfather passed—Kishiar raised his hand and casually answered.

“Those are the most common forms of rebellion for immature children.”

Inon nodded, lifting one eyebrow.

“Both correct. Sounds like you’ve done that kind of thing a lot, haven’t you?”

“Haha. I was the family’s notorious troublemaker. Even though I understood the people begging to be careful with my body, I resented it and acted out a lot.”

That must’ve been after the young Kishiar realized his body was broken. The idea that even this endlessly resilient man had once endured a painful youth where he struggled to accept his fate suddenly felt real.

And the fact that he could talk about such a sensitive topic so easily with Inon—it likely ant he was offering up sothing personal in exchange for the heavy secret Inon was about to share.

“Anyway, I got mad at Luma and ran off. And that’s when I died for the first ti and got regenerated. If Luma hadn’t chased after , I wouldn’t have lasted even a year—so thousand-year guardian I would’ve been.”

Inon didn’t say much more about that incident. He seed slightly embarrassed.

“When I woke up again, Luma returned my mories and taught everything from the beginning again. And he told honestly—why he created , and why it had to be .”

“...”

“He said... he wanted to preserve the legacy of a dear friend who had passed. And to do that, he needed a ans of protecting the Capital for a distant future no one could predict. He asked to help him, because I was the only one who could.”

A faint smile crossed Inon’s lips. His lemon-colored eyes gazed past Yuder, toward an empty tree behind him, as though retracing sothing distant.

“For the first and last ti, I went outside with Luma. We went to the Capital. I ate food like a normal human, mingled with people, and slept there. It wasn’t as fancy as it is now, but it felt safe, peaceful. Back then, the world was still pretty chaotic. But I liked it. And Luma was genuinely happy. For the first ti since I’d woken up, he was overjoyed. He finished his al in one sitting for once, instead of picking at it like he usually did.”

The Grand Mage from history that no one had ever truly seen—listening to Inon speak about him, it almost felt like he was just the guy next door. For such a legendary, almost mythological figure, that feeling was oddly surreal.

Probably because Inon talks about Luma so casually, like he’s reminiscing about a close friend.

He probably never shared these stories with anyone before, but it was as if he’d recited them a thousand tis. The way he rembered even the smallest details and expressions—it ant he’d kept those mories close for a long, long ti. Yuder couldn’t imagine what that must’ve felt like.

“That’s when I realized how much Luma truly cared about the Capital. If he went so far as to create just to protect it... then maybe it really was worth protecting. That was the mont I decided I’d beco a real guardian.”

Inon looked down at his own hands—five fingers, just like a human, the hands of an herbalist.

“Even after I agreed to beco the guardian, Luma didn’t imdiately accept it. He was worried. I think he realized—especially after what had happened—that half of really was human. It weighed on him. Even when I said I was sure about my decision, he couldn’t bring himself to believe it right away. So we made a deal.”

“...”

“I would guard the Capital as Luma’s representative until the ti ca. Luma, in turn, would support so I could live comfortably as a guardian. The agreent would last as long as I believed the Capital was worth protecting. If I judged it no longer worth it, the contract would end, and I’d be free to leave.”

“What did Luma an by ‘the ti’?” Kishiar asked.

Inon answered calmly.

“To put it simply, a mont where the Seventh Wall might fall. Or sothing close enough that it felt like it might.”

“So he left the judgnt entirely up to you.”

“Exactly.”

After saying that, Inon let out a soft sigh and continued.

“I don’t think Luma believed it was right to tell too much at the ti. Maybe even he wasn’t fully sure such a mont would ever co. In any case, we made the contract, and not long after, he left. One day I woke up, and he’d swapped out my hand and vanished—said it was his final gift to help , and didn’t even say goodbye. I was furious.”

“...Wait. Swapped what?”

The way Inon said it so casually, Yuder almost missed the gravity of the words. Inon lifted his hand on the desk and waved it.

“My hand. This.”

“What exactly did he swap out?”

“You already know that the foundation of my soul is a wood spirit, right? So have you ever thought about what my body was made from?”

“...No.”

He’d just assud it was a human body with a spirit’s soul attached—but now that he thought about it, where had the body co from? Inon provided the answer.

“Luma said it was incredibly difficult to make a body that could contain a spirit’s soul and synchronize with the Seventh Walls—basically allowing reabsorption and regeneration. After lots of trial and error, he succeeded. My body was made from apple blossom wood... with half of Luma’s heart blended into it. It was the only prototype that survived.”

Even Kishiar, who had remained composed through everything, was montarily speechless. Yuder felt the sa.

...He mixed what with what?

“Don’t ask for details. I don’t know—wasn’t even born yet. What I do know is my body’s based on Luma’s heart. And before he left, he chopped off his own hand and attached it to .”

“Then... Luma lived without a hand? Why his hand, of all things?”

“Probably not. I an, we’re talking about the guy who built a living human body—he probably made himself a new one. As for why the hand? It’s easier to control mana with it, even if you don’t know how to cast spells.”

Inon twisted his lips in a crooked smirk.

“I know magic—but I’m not a mage. So why do you think I’ve always been able to handle enchanted objects so easily and see through Luma’s spells?”

“...”

“Anyway, what Luma left in that letter—it’s all based on that promise. It was written under the assumption that after a long, long ti, the day he’d hoped would never co had arrived. That the guardian was still alive and had co this far, still trying to protect the Capital.”

Yuder felt his heart sink. Inon seed to notice, and raised his voice slightly.

“But here’s the thing. What matters isn’t whether I follow so ‘final thod’ Luma left behind. What matters is... none of this was here when I left. I think he ca back here after I was gone and left it.”

For a mont, the air in Luma’s laboratory felt like it shifted. Yuder carefully asked,

“But earlier, you said you didn’t think Luma would have returned here. Are you sure?”

“I didn’t see him—but he did secretly visit when people he knew passed away. That much I’ve heard. And rember, this lemon flower brooch? It was discovered recently.”

Inon pulled the old lemon blossom brooch from his coat. It was the one found among the monster remains in the ruins left by the First Duke of Ta-in.