Chapter 91: Luminus Arcantel Valentina [2]

Chapter 90

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Episode 20 - Luminus Arcantel Valentina [2]

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The Memory Gates have a fairly understandable function, so to speak.

Once you complete the prologue or certain Chapters, every time you enter different scenarios, the protagonist of the story does not remember you.

So, basically, you have to start building a friendship from the beginning, as if you were meeting for the first time.

But the things you did in the previous Chapter or in the prologue before Chapter One remain there. To the protagonist, the people they met have different appearances and so on as you change scenarios.

They do not remember your original appearance; they only remember the appearances of other people.

’Well, I guess it’s time to start over with the introductions.’

I fixed my attention on Luminus and then looked up at the sky.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of winged creatures were falling apart, reduced to tiny chunks of flesh across the snowy ground.

Their blood poured down like rain, melting the snow within seconds, while a thick metallic smell filled the air.

Finally, I focused on Luminus again and answered her question.

"Well, we found some ruins on the Floating Continent where there was a Teleportation Array, and we thought it would take us to a secret place, so we activated it. But then we appeared here. We were attacked by demons, then we climbed upward, and eventually we ran into you."

Charlotte nodded, understanding my train of thought.

Luminus narrowed her eyes slightly before sighing and nodding.

"I suppose you were unlucky. Very well, children, I will protect you for the time being. I will create a Teleportation Array so you can return to the Floating Continent. Now follow me."

She turned her back to us. Charlotte and I did not say a single word.

However, my thoughts were different.

’She’s more expressive than she was in the prologue, and it seems she has continued fulfilling her purpose.’

She looked at us with warm and concerned eyes.

The Luminus from the prologue was probably around twenty years old, while the current Luminus from Chapter One is probably twenty-five.

And using my Mana Sense...

’She has already reached 9 Stars.’

Normally, people at that age only reach 6 or 7 Stars.

People like the sons and daughters of the Five Houses would obviously already be at 9 Stars by that age.

But advancing from 9 to 10 Stars is not simply a matter of talent, so many people remain at 9 Stars for the rest of their lives.

’Well, Lumina reached 9 Stars shortly after graduating at only twenty years old.’

Anyway, we followed Luminus while I still carried Charlotte on my back.

Soon, she guided us toward a cave. As soon as we entered, the cold decreased considerably.

Deeper inside the cave, there was a bonfire. Aside from that, there were several pine logs carved into simple benches, while others had been shaped into chairs.

There was also an improvised camping bed made from cotton and the hides of wild beasts.

"You’re both covered in blood. At the end of the cave, there are hot springs. I was lucky to find this cave with those hot springs, so you can both take a bath."

Luminus looked at the two of us before turning around. She picked up one of the chairs, placed it at the entrance of the cave, and sat down.

"I’ll stay here, so in the meantime, go take a bath. I assume you have clothes stored in some storage ring, right?"

I nodded, and shortly afterward, I lowered Charlotte from my back.

"My name is Adel, and this is Charlotte. Could you tell us your name?"

With her back facing me, Luminus had her arms crossed while her sword rested on the ground to her left.

A moment later, her voice reached my ears.

"Luminus Arcantel Valentina. I come from a fallen noble house of the Sacred Continent."

"Thank you for helping us, Miss Luminus."

"Just call me Luminus. Formalities aren’t necessary."

I nodded without saying anything else. Then I turned toward Charlotte and said,

"You go first."

Charlotte looked at me for a second before walking toward the end of the cave.

As for me, I sat down on one of the wooden chairs and placed my sword against the wall behind me.

The bonfire was about a meter away. The flames burned quite high, and faint sparks drifted through the air.

’Phew, I’ll finally be able to recover all my stamina.’

My body was at its limit after using the Second Form not long ago.

And because of the cold, my stamina was recovering more and more slowly.

So after spending a few minutes near the bonfire, I gradually recovered almost all of my stamina.

’Master, do you know anything about the place I’m in?’

Inside my head, my master Alice answered my question.

〖I don’t know. I don’t think I ever went to the Mountains of the End in my life, but I do remember something about an ancient branch of the Church of the Black Dawn, and one of the most important ones at that〗

’That’s good... I guess.’

〖Yes, it’s good for your current situation, so be grateful to me. Anyway, the only thing I know is that one of the branches of the Church of the Black Dawn that was located in this place hundreds of years ago was destroyed, and who would have thought that the one who did it was the Fallen Maiden〗

In any case, now I know that there is a secret base of the Church of the Black Dawn in this place.

And according to Luminus’s objective, it is revenge, of course, against the Church of the Black Dawn.

’But why exactly the base in this place?’

I don’t think it’s because of the search for some treasure, but it also doesn’t seem like she came here simply to destroy the base.

’If it were only about destroying the base, then she would have already done it.’

But Luminus was here, in a cave, as if it were literally her home.

I don’t know how long she has been here, but it shouldn’t take her much time to explore a large part of these mountains.

’So there is a specific reason why she still hasn’t acted.’

Perhaps a Class 10 villain. If this is a base of great importance, then that could be the case.

In this era, villains could obtain the Cube of Chaos much more easily than in the present because the Abyss had not yet been sealed.

’Master, you said that the base in this place was destroyed, right?’

〖Yes, according to the old records from back then, when she was still alive〗

I nodded inwardly, and my thoughts began connecting certain dots.

’And according to the name of the Scene, something important related to Luminus happened here.’

A mountain of corpses on a snowy night.

At this moment there is a storm, but Luminus is here, so this still isn’t the snowy night when whatever is going to happen takes place.

While I was immersed in my thoughts, a voice pulled me out of them.

"You two remind me of a couple I met on the Floating Continent five years ago."

"...."

Luminus’s emotions were melancholic, as if she were remembering a past she could never return to.

Obviously, she was referring to the two of us, Charlotte and me.

’I wonder by what names she remembers us, and with what appearances.’

And regarding my sword, which she probably saw in the prologue, it’s possible that she also remembers it differently, and perhaps even my swordsmanship.

So it doesn’t matter if she sees my sword or my swordsmanship later.

"A couple? Well, she and I aren’t what you think."

Luminus nodded, and an amused expression appeared on her face.

"Maybe it’s a coincidence, but those two denied it as well."

"Really? And what happened to them?"

Luminus fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"I don’t know. We parted ways not long after I met them, but I owe both of them a lot. They helped me remember something important."

An awkward, ironic smile formed on my face.

It seems she saw us in a very positive light, even saying that she owes us a lot.

’Is this how some people feel when they never meet again?’

Maybe yes, or maybe not.

Even so, looking at Luminus’s emotions, I suppose it was the former.

"And why did the three of you separate?"

At my question, Luminus answered after several seconds.

"Each of us had to follow a different path, didn’t we?"

I nodded slightly, and then she continued.

"And we promised to meet again someday in the distant future."

"So you made a promise. I hope you can see each other again soon."

"I hope so too."

Luminus nodded slowly. At the same time, I couldn’t help but think about how Charlotte and I continued from the prologue to Chapter One.

The Memory Gate created a story after the two of us left the prologue.

’It’s literally as if it were a real world.’

But this was only a memory creating scenarios and continuing a story different from the original one.

"So, can I know what you’re doing in a place like this?"

I decided to change the subject. I already knew that the Memory Gate had continued the story somehow toward an unknown direction.

And in any case, Luminus would forget us again in Chapter Two.

’And in the end, she no longer exists.’

Pulling myself out of my thoughts shortly afterward, I focused my attention on her while waiting for her response.

Luminus opened her mouth and said,

"What exactly am I doing in this place?"

"Yes. From what I’ve noticed, this place is the Mountains of the End, right?"

"That’s right. For someone blind, you know quite a lot, don’t you?"

"..."

She laughed softly before continuing.

"Well, I came here to fulfill part of my objective and..."

She paused. I looked at her emotions and couldn’t help but feel surprised.

"...Find someone, someone I haven’t seen since I was a child."