Chapter 1172

"If we dig through the Royal Court Mage Division’s records, we might be able to find information on those who died or went missing in that accident. Questions like how many of the victims, especially among the missing without remains, were children... It might be faster to ask Helrem directly, but..."

Uncharacteristically, Kishiar let his words trail off. He looked hesitant, unsure of how Yuder felt about the matter.

Yuder quietly gazed down at their still-joined hands.

So this... could be more than just information about Grandfather. If I’m lucky, maybe I could even learn something about my parents.

If he had been the kind of person who longed for his parents, he might have been emotionally shaken in this moment. But the only feeling Yuder held now was a calm and quiet acknowledgment—“I see.”

Looking at the man waiting for his response, Yuder finally spoke.

"I just remembered something. When I was young, Grandfather once asked me if I missed my parents. I think it was after he came back from the village where he had seen some children with their parents. I told him I didn’t."

"..."

"Back then, and even now, I’ve never really felt the need to know where or under what kind of people I was born. That hasn’t changed. But... now I do want to know for certain whether Grandfather really was one of the mages stationed at that place."

Yuder let out a short sigh before continuing.

"At the same time, if Lady Helrem chose retirement and seclusion because she wanted to forget about that incident, then I don’t want to forcibly stir up those memories against her will. So, I think it’s better if we start by checking the Royal Court Mage Division’s records first and ask her about it later."

"Alright. Let’s do that."

Kishiar nodded slowly.

"Still... thank you. It’s because you remembered the past so clearly that we’re able to pick up the thread now."

"I haven’t done anything at all."

Ignoring Kishiar’s modesty, Yuder turned his gaze to the last remaining items—the ones most likely to hold real information: the bundle of papers and the notebook.

The notebook was in relatively good condition, but the bundle of papers had been folded and stuck together for so long that touching them carelessly might cause them to crumble. But these were no ordinary people.

"This one looks like it’d be better to cut into pieces and then piece back together."

"Use my dagger for it."

"Ah, the one Suns and Emon gave you as a gift."

"Yes. It’s quite handy."

Using the dagger Yuder handed him, Kishiar imbued it with a bit of aura and delicately sliced the papers. Yuder enveloped the pieces with a fine wind current to keep them from crumbling. The two of them began matching the pieces together like a puzzle. An ordinary person would’ve had trouble even telling one piece from another, but they could find the right positions just by minute stains or the feel of the paper’s texture.

Without saying a word, as if perfectly in sync, they completed the puzzle at remarkable speed. Three sheets were reconstructed in total.

Handwritten? It’s already covered in blotches, and it’s in cursive—makes it even harder to read.

Still, it wasn’t completely illegible. On the second page, which Yuder was trying to decipher, rough lines like the following were written:

– If the rumor that places with many magicians also produce more magic stones is true, then there’s a good chance a magic stone mine exists around here...

– Measured today’s mana concentration.

– The weather isn’t good, so we’re taking a short break...

It was clearly written by a mage. There were even casual remarks. But that was all.

Are all the other pages like this too?

It didn’t seem like anything particularly useful in this situation. If the rest were similar, then perhaps the only value was in successfully reconstructing the pages. That was what Yuder thought—until he looked up and noticed Kishiar staring at the papers with a strange expression.

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing, just... hmm."

Tilting his head, Kishiar scanned the paper in front of him again, then reached for the notebook. He flipped through it quickly—so fast Yuder wasn’t even sure if he was reading—until he stopped and opened the very first page for Yuder to see.

Written there was:

"—Behold the red sun that dyes the blue sky. No matter how many times it sets, it rises again without fail. As long as that sun remains, we will always move forward."

"That’s the motto representing the Royal Court Mage Division. It’s said to be the final words of the great mage Luma who followed the emperor into the last battle. All court mages write this sentence at the start of reports or personal records to mark their affiliation—but in truth, it also serves as a handwriting identifier."

"In other words... it helps prove that the document was written by them?"

"Exactly. For researchers, knowing who left a record is very important."

"But why bring that up now...?"

"Look closely. The handwriting is the same."

Kishiar pointed alternately between the reconstructed paper and the first page of the notebook. One was faint and scribbled hastily, while the other had been written forcefully with a thick pen—making it hard to compare—but in some places, the strokes matched.

For example, the way certain characters had extended rightward strokes, or how some letters overlapped with the next—those details were the same.

"Hmm... yeah, I see it now. But then again, it’s only natural if these belonged to the same person."

"Then take a look at this next."

Kishiar reached out, and one of the items stacked nearby floated to his hand. What he now laid open on the table was none other than the old man’s ledger. Ordinary entries like ‘one bottle of milk,’ ‘two bags of flour,’ and ‘Mrs. Bossen’s bread’ stood out.

Looking at the ledger properly for the first time, Yuder wondered, “What could be in here?”—but then Kishiar said quietly:

"The handwriting is different."

"Excuse me?"

"No matter how much time has passed between writings, people retain their habits. And handwriting is one of the hardest habits to change. When everything—from the papers we recovered to this ledger—is that different, it’s rare to the point of being almost impossible."

A jolt of shock hit Yuder.

Looking back and forth between the documents, it was just as Kishiar had said.

He’s right. The handwriting... it’s different.

Those distinctive features he had noticed earlier were nowhere to be found in the ledger. The strokes that extended far to the right in the notebook were short here, and there were no overlapped characters.

"The person who wrote these papers had a typical scholar’s handwriting. Most of them were trained by copying the works of Pantenedier Dulaite, a famous scholar and calligrapher from 200 years ago. That practice gives their writing common traits. I copied Pantenedier’s texts myself when I was young, so I know them well."

"I see."

"This ledger, however, has none of those characteristics. Not even one."

"..."

As their eyes met, Kishiar furrowed his brow and spoke quietly.

"It’s possible the owner of this bag wasn’t your grandfather at all."

"But then why would he have brought it with him?"

"There could be a number of reasons. Maybe he was holding onto someone else’s bag and couldn’t return it when an emergency happened, or he thought it necessary to protect someone else’s records and brought them along. Any number of possibilities."

Kishiar was right. Any of those could be true.

Yuder looked down at the ledger and notebook, letting out a short breath.

"It feels like we’ve come full circle. Still... realizing the handwriting was different is valuable information."

Just as he said that and reached for the notebook again to go over its contents, Kishiar said something unexpected that froze his hand.

"That is, if you believe the notebook’s owner and your grandfather were different people."

"...What do you mean by that?"