Chapter 602
The Bard and His Protagonist
Yunus couldn’t tell if it was an illusion, but he felt a sense of unease and anxiety. Maxim the Mage, who had been very kind to him, suddenly became distant after Eivass was sent to the Fairy Kingdom by Madam Grace. Maxim examined Yunus closely, his smile vanishing from his face. The previously kind and grateful gaze turned into a cold, scrutinizing one.
*Did I just say something wrong? But I didn’t say anything at all!*
Yunus was confused. He put on a relaxed smile, played a melodious tune on his modified harp, and walked towards Maxim the Mage, offering his signature three-stage laugh. “My hospitable and kind friend, I have an impudent request…”
“—Mr. Yunus.” Suddenly, Maxim pushed up the round glasses on his face and calmly interrupted Yunus. “Will you do me a favor?” Though it was a request, the mage’s tone was firm and solemn.
Yunus recognized that tone. It was the expression he sometimes saw on people who were in a heavy mood and didn’t appreciate jokes. If he continued to speak in his usual “Yunus” manner, he might even anger the other party.
*Come to think of it, the real “Yunus” didn’t always talk like this.* Yunus thought to himself and changed his tone. “Please, go ahead.”
“When they return, please remain silent, will you?” Maxim the Mage said. “I mean—don’t be as noisy as before. And don’t play music while speaking loudly. Speak with the same tone and pitch you used just now when you replied.”
“…All right, no problem.” Yunus chuckled awkwardly and nodded. *So you don’t like it this way. You should have said so earlier. It’s tiring to talk like this anyway…*
After that, Maxim ignored him. He simply looked up at the moon and drifted into thought.
After hearing Eivass’s deductions and explanations about the petrification disease, Yunus had a rough idea of the reason. Maxim must be angry because he thought Yunus was staying here to see Anastasia, and returning to the Material Realm might not be good for her health.
*Of course, Yunus wasn’t here to see Anastasia. He came to seek the truth, only wanting to tell her that he had accepted her invitation and not broken his promise. He was worried that Anastasia might have just died and he hadn’t made it in time—as long as it wasn’t that kind of ending. That would have meant “breaking his promise due to his late arrival.”*
Now, with Anastasia on the verge of petrifying at any moment, Yunus even less wanted her to leave with regrets. He had to tell her that the bald fool who made a promise back then had not broken it. Yunus had already told Eivass his intentions—since Miss Anastasia was not in good health, she could stay in the Fairy Kingdom to recover. All she needed to know was that he had arrived.
Alone, Yunus soon felt bored. It was too quiet, so quiet that it made him, a bard accustomed to noise and liveliness, uncomfortable. His fingers twitched, and he subconsciously wanted to play a few simple tunes on the harp at his waist to add some background music. But as soon as his hand touched it, he subconsciously glanced at Maxim the Mage and immediately pulled his hand away as if he had been electrocuted.
Maxim the Mage’s intention was that once they returned, there should be no more noise. Although Eivass and the others hadn’t returned yet, it was hard to say whether playing his harp here would anger Maxim. After all, Maxim was clearly in a bad mood. Of course, Yunus felt bad about causing trouble for Maxim, who was a genuinely good person. Thus, Yunus didn’t want to go against him at this moment.
*…How boring.* Yunus sighed and, like Maxim, looked up at the moon. He missed his friend a little.
In fact, Yunus’s exaggerated and comical behavior was because it was the signature behavior of “Yunus” in Prince Albert’s memory. To become Yunus, he had been repeating this behavior. But in reality, Yunus didn’t speak like that when talking to people. When Yunus was alive, he was the one responsible for negotiations with others. At that time, Albert hid alone in his cloak, covering half his face, with his arms crossed, standing far behind. That bald man could speak to anyone and become friends with them. How could he be as eccentric and operatic as Albert?
But the problem was, Albert couldn’t master Yunus’s art of conversation.
“…I miss you again, my dear friend.” He murmured to the moon. His dear friend Yunus was not a descendant of the founding family. His parents were neither knights nor bishops… His father was an Iris person, a clown in a theatrical troupe. His mother was a wealthy businesswoman from Avalon who had been orphaned early and managed her family’s business alone. Although it was a formal marriage witnessed by the Church, to Albert, their relationship was less like husband and wife and more like lovers. They lived in different places, didn’t interfere with each other’s lives, and had a good relationship when they met occasionally.
However, from the perspective of “lovers,” their age difference wasn’t significant. As a “sugar mama,” Yunus’s mother was only a little over ten years older than his father. Albert had met the woman—she was a firm, rational, and righteous lady. How to describe her righteousness? When she took over her family’s company, its business covered 60% of the White Queen District. After ten years of her personal management, the business scale had been successfully reduced to one-fifth. People who were too principled couldn’t do business well.
Yunus’s father was the opposite—the one responsible for raising the child, he was a cheerful man. He was always smiling, able to take jokes and taunts, and his words were humorous and witty, liked by everyone. Even Queen Sophia, during her most temperamental and stubborn years, became a friend of his. Sometimes, she would even bring this clown to the Silver and Tin Hall to ask for his opinion on certain matters.
At that time, some of Albert’s friends would sarcastically call it “governing by a clown.” This greatly embarrassed Albert, especially since his father had just passed away. But even when he personally advised the Queen, she wouldn’t listen. At the same time, ministers offered advice, and there were whispers among the public. However, none of these could affect Queen Sophia’s autocratic will.
It was in this environment that Albert encountered Yunus. He initially approached him with hostility, but after interacting, he discovered that this child had inherited his father’s eloquence. *It wasn’t until later that Albert learned Yunus’s father had an incurable illness that even a bishop couldn’t cure. He wouldn’t have been talking to Queen Sophia for power… because he wouldn’t live much longer. And Yunus’s mother had already known about his terminal illness. She married Yunus’s father knowing this. Because he brought her happiness, she repaid him with responsibility.*
*Yunus was like the union of these two people, inheriting their strengths.* Later, when Albert was preparing to run away from home, none of his friends were willing to leave with him. Only Yunus said, “I was thinking of going out to see the world anyway,” and cheerfully accompanied Albert on his travels. With his social skills, if he had stayed on Glass Island, he might have become a minister by now.
When they first left Glass Island, Albert often felt self-loathing due to his cowardice and incompetence. At such times, Yunus would never give him lectures, comfort him, or admonish him. He would just slowly play his harp beside him, waiting for Albert to calm down on his own. His harp playing wasn’t technically brilliant, but it was filled with deep emotion.
One day, Albert finally couldn’t help but ask him, “Yunus, why did you leave Glass Island with a failure like me?”
“No particular reason,” Yunus replied, putting down his harp and thinking for a moment. He then smiled and said, “Because you were asking for my help, and I thought those people were quite boring. You’re a good person, it’s interesting to see you constantly agonizing over things, and your personality isn’t unpleasant. Causing trouble with you is ten times better than living an endlessly repetitive life at home!”
That was the first time Yunus had ever truly spoken his heart to Albert. From then on, Albert realized that this man was completely different from him. Although they had the same profession, Albert couldn’t be considered a qualified bard compared to his good friend Yunus. They weren’t traveling companions. They were “the bard and the protagonist of his chosen story.”
Whenever Yunus finished negotiating with someone, he would return to Albert’s side, looking happy, saying things like, “Thank goodness, thanks to the blessing of the Silver Crown Dragon,” “We are very lucky, Mr. Albert,” “That gentleman is a good person, he agreed to our negotiation.”
*…Now, I can only imitate Yunus.* He played the harp alone, hopped around alone, and muttered these words to himself. “Thank goodness, Her Majesty the Queen and that foolish bird didn’t find me! We are very lucky, Mr. Eivass!”
At this moment, a sharp, noisy voice came from the sky. It was a familiar tone to Yunus—a voice from within the moon. “Now I can go out and play with you!” Yunus was also familiar with that voice. It was Fairy Nilim, attracted by his harp music last night.
However, was it an illusion…? Was it coincidence, wishful thinking, or déjà vu? Yunus felt that the joy overflowing from that voice made him want to cry. At this moment, he finally saw what it was—a glass carriage pulled by glass unicorns emerged from the moon, reflecting the moonlight and emitting a faint glow. The frozen track in front spread out, guiding the glass carriage to slide smoothly like a curve in an inverse proportion function.
Both the glass unicorns and the carriage began to disintegrate as soon as they came into view, turning into silver-gray fairy dust. It was a spontaneous disintegration of fantasy—if the scale of the fey was large enough, they might be able to create something. For solitary fey, it was somewhat difficult to maintain “fantasy” in the Material Realm.
Inside the carriage, besides Eivass and Madam Grace, there were two other passengers. One was a young fey, clinging to Eivass’s collar and sitting on his collarbone. The other was an elf maiden sitting gracefully in the back seat. It was Miss Anastasia!
Yunus immediately recognized her identity and temporarily set aside his concern for Nilim. She looked exactly the same as when he had last seen Anastasia, both in appearance and attire. Nothing had changed. Undoubtedly, this was an illusion. Just as he had seen back then… he had never seen Anastasia’s true face.
*…Has she returned after all?* This made Yunus’s mood complicated.
“Aya…” Maxim immediately stepped forward and knelt on the ground, embracing Anastasia deeply and saying in a low voice, “Are you alright?” Although it was abrupt, Yunus knew what he was talking about.
“I’m fine, Father.” Anastasia said lightly. She clasped her hands behind her back and winked playfully. “There’s never been a better time than now.”
Hearing this, Maxim could only look at her with a complex gaze. He had many things to say but didn’t. He turned back and gazed deeply at Yunus, which made Yunus feel a little guilty and ashamed.
“Mr. Yunus!” The girl ran towards him with a smile.
“Ha, ha, ha, Anas—” Yunus’s face was filled with smiles, and his joyful mood made him subconsciously let out his signature laugh, but he quickly reacted under Maxim’s glare and lowered his voice. “Beautiful Miss Anastasia… You didn’t have to come yourself if you weren’t feeling well. Or did my friend Eivass not tell you about this?”
“I didn’t, actually.” Eivass spoke up suddenly and said in a low voice, “Because I believe… Anastasia is no longer a child, Mr. Yunus. She has her own unique ideas and clear will. It’s not that whatever we do that we think is ‘good for her’ is what she is willing to accept. Yes, I could have persuaded her not to come—but that would have been using favors and friendship to override her personal will. When I realized she wanted to do this… I could only agree and tacitly approve.”
Eivass’s words seemed to be directed at Yunus, but also at Madam Grace and Maxim the Mage. Hearing this, Madam Grace, who had witnessed everything, showed no new reaction, but Maxim’s expression became more complex. After all, he was an Extraordinary following the Path of Wisdom. Just this much allowed him to roughly guess the truth.
Yunus and Anastasia hugged for a while, and then Yunus smiled and took something out of his embrace—it was a smile of relief, or a gentle smile, or perhaps a wry smile. It was Anastasia’s moon-white silk headband, adorned with light blue Elven inscriptions. In Elven, it read: “Anastasia, wishing you well.”
Under everyone’s silent gaze, Yunus, kneeling on the ground, gently tied the headband back onto Anastasia. Her apple-like bob was perfect for such a headband.
“I haven’t gone back on my word, have I, Miss Anastasia?” Yunus’s lips twitched slightly, and he said in a low voice. “You invited me to your house back then… I promised I would come to see you. And now, I have accomplished both those things.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Yunus. Thank you for saving me.” Anastasia sincerely bowed to him. “Without you, Mom and Dad would never have seen me again.”
“…That was just…” Yunus opened his mouth, intending to be humble. But just recalling the motive behind his desperate, almost frantic, rescue of Anastasia from a powerful enemy, he suddenly fell silent again. *He saved another man’s daughter. But why didn’t his own daughter have the courage to save him?*
“I was thinking,” Anastasia said lightly, “how I should thank you. Now I finally understand… I am very happy. As a gift of gratitude, I want to give it to you myself—” As she spoke, Anastasia suddenly radiated a faint light and then rushed into Yunus’s embrace. Yunus instinctively hugged the girl but suddenly felt his arms lighten. At some point, Anastasia had disappeared. An Elven-style silver harp appeared in his arms. The headband fell onto the tip of the harp.
“…I think… I should let you see me… the real me…” Another faint, soft voice came from not far away. Yunus looked up. He saw Anastasia, who was almost turned into a tree. She wasn’t struggling painfully as she had in the Fairy Kingdom—after leaving the Fairy Kingdom, she immediately became quiet. Her voice became sleepy, and her twisted branches began to grow and unfurl rapidly. Bathed in moonlight, her branches opened, no longer deformed and hunched. Leaves grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Maxim realized something. He didn’t stop her, but pursed his lips and silently watched it all.
“That is a part of me… Mr. Yunus.” She said. “I have never seen… the outside world. Just surviving would be too lonely… wouldn’t it? I want to see the outside world… I want to see other countries. I want to see Avalon’s gryphons, I want to see deserts and springs. Please take me outside to see.”
(End of Chapter)
