Chapter 1219

Yuder took a breath and began to speak.

“I was raised by a relative—my grandfather. He said he ended up taking me in after my parents passed away and he was contacted by chance. He died when I was thirteen, and until now, I remembered him as just a normal man. That is... until I returned home this time.”

“What, are you saying he wasn’t just some regular guy?”

“Probably not.”

Inon’s eyebrows shot up.

“...You almost never use vague words like that when you talk.”

“......”

“Well, alright then. Keep going.”

Inon pulled his hand away from the teacup and crossed his arms. It might’ve looked lazy to someone else, but Yuder knew that posture meant he was focusing completely.

“The Commander visited my house and, after looking through my grandfather’s belongings and the things around the house, started wondering if he might’ve been involved in magic. At first, I thought it was ridiculous. But then I started talking to the villagers... and it turned out to be true.”

The old grocer who remembered when Yuder’s grandfather first brought him home as a baby. The antique shopkeeper, Sallandin, down in the village beneath the mountain, who was listed in the grandfather’s ledger. Yuder relayed to Inon the information he had gathered from them, along with what he’d deduced from his grandfather’s belongings.

Even when Yuder told him that Kishiar suspected his grandfather had been one of the missing mages from the accident at the Imperial Mana Institute twenty years ago, Inon’s expression didn’t change much. But once the story shifted to the secretive tale told by Sallandin—paid for in expensive silver coins—about a certain magical sect, Inon’s expression grew deeply serious.

“That sect supposedly passed down a legend that those who upheld its teachings would receive the blessing of the Great Mage. There’s even a story that hundreds of years ago, a mage from that sect sacrificed himself to save others and was somehow brought back to life by an unknown force. Sallandin said she suspected my grandfather might’ve been another such case, and that’s why she kept an eye on him.”

“That really happened?”

“The Commander said the event Sallandin described did actually happen. He didn’t know if the mage in question belonged to that sect, but... Sallandin claimed that mage started acting differently afterward. That’s why she was so suspicious of my grandfather.”

“How did he change, exactly?”

Yuder paused briefly before answering.

“...She said he claimed to be the Great Mage himself. Sallandin thought maybe that was just an excuse made up by other mages so they could capture and study him.”

“Hm.”

Inon didn’t laugh.

“So, to summarize what I’ve heard so far: a mage presumed dead in a magical disaster somehow survived for unknown reasons, took in and raised a child while pretending to be an ordinary civilian, and—according to those around him—acted like a completely different person afterward. He was also connected to a sect that believes in some ‘blessing’ or maybe a curse from the Great Mage. That sound about right? And he never said a word to you about any of it.”

“That’s right.”

“If anyone else were saying this, I’d tell them to get lost and stop spouting nonsense—but in your case, I can’t do that. Anyway, the fact that you wanted to explain all this before talking about Luma’s journal means you think it’s related. And if I had to guess, you think it’s tied to this ‘blessing of the Great Mage,’ don’t you?”

Inon’s sharp lemon-colored eyes scanned Yuder’s face.

“Am I right?”

“That too... is right.”

Yuder admitted it without hesitation. Inon let out a deep breath and tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling for a moment.

“I have no idea where this is going. Fine. I’ll store the info about your grandfather in my brain—now keep going.”

“Now I’ll tell you what I learned from Luma’s journal. I’m just passing along what I read, so if you were to read it yourself, you might notice something I didn’t...”

Yuder recalled the day he’d read through the entirety of Luma’s journal.

The sudden shift from the mundane early entries to completely different content had left a lasting impression on him.

“For starters, the journal’s first and last sections were written at different times. The first part was probably written around the time Luma was still with you. The last part... seems like it was written after he left Ghilandre Hill and then returned later.”

He’d written in the same old notebook simply because no new paper was available. Even as he was documenting secrets to prevent a future apocalypse—secrets of the Great Mage—he had jotted them down in whatever was handy. Yuder still found that almost absurd. When he said as much, Inon smirked.

“That’s just like Luma. He never really cared how others might interpret his actions later. So? What did he write in there?”

“Why he left Ghilandre Hill. What he did after he left. Everything.”

“......”

In the past, Inon’s expression would’ve shown great tension by this point. But now, while the smirk had faded, he didn’t look nervous or upset. He looked far calmer than he had the day he’d first found the journal and handed it over to Yuder to read.

This made it easier for Yuder to continue.

The Great Mage Luma had left Ghilandre Hill because he finally realized what it truly meant to protect a friend. Before that, he had wanted to turn back time—just as he had done once before, though he couldn’t remember it—to see that friend again. To that end, he had studied ways to reverse flesh, soul, and time itself.

But, according to his writings, after being tricked by the spirit of the apple tree and meeting the “small apple fruit,” Luma’s perspective changed.

Yuder carefully chose his words as he recalled the one who had changed the Great Mage’s thinking—the one whose gaze still lingered in his memory.

“Luma began to doubt whether, even if he succeeded in achieving his goal, the ‘fruit’ he regained would truly be the same. In the end, he concluded that he couldn’t be sure. He wrote that this was what made him reconsider his friend’s final words.”

The Founding Emperor’s last wish had never been for Luma to bring him back or to turn back time. His concern had always been for the future.

Realizing this, Luma resolved to leave in order to fulfill his friend’s will the right way—this time for real.

He set out to uncover what had happened to the Founding Emperor and to find a better way to prevent future catastrophes.

“From what Luma discovered during his travels, it’s certain that there were others besides him and the Founding Emperor who had returned from the future. The records are now lost, so we can’t know for sure, but there was definitely at least one case before the Great Calamity. He left carrying the scripture and went south, probably hoping to find survivors from that time and learn more about it.”

“......”

“Luma seemed convinced that many people had reversed time or come back from death and, like the Founding Emperor, tried to stop the apocalypse and became great figures. But he also noted how their warnings had faded and warped over time.”

Even if they overcame the impending catastrophe, another would come eventually.

Warnings left by heroes of the past—warnings about ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) future disasters—grew faint over generations, no longer reaching the people who needed them. So what could be done?

Against the vast enemy known as time, Luma decided to embark on a new journey to surpass the limits of his own power.

To protect what he and his friend had wanted to protect. And...

“‘For my little fruit.’ ‘Toward the unknowable future.’ ...That’s how it ends. Those are the last lines in the journal.”

“......”

Inon didn’t blink. He simply stared at Yuder’s lips. Yuder waited in silence, giving him space until he was ready to speak.

After a long moment, Inon covered his face with a hand and exhaled deeply.

“...Hah.”

Yuder wondered if he’d gotten emotional—but when Inon lowered his hand, his expression was the exact opposite. He laughed in disbelief, looking more refreshed than ever—though clearly annoyed.

“‘My little fruit,’ my ass. He never once called me that. What kind of embarrassing name is that, seriously?”

“......”

“Well, whatever. At least I know now that he didn’t regret making me. That he didn’t walk away thinking he never wanted to see me again. That clears up a lot. Thanks for reading it first and telling me.”