VIP Chapter 501: Carver’s Memoir (2)
In the long life of a person, some memories are fleeting, leaving only a moment, sung in the time it takes to sing a song—
“Traveler who has gone far, can you stop for a moment?”
“Listen to me sing a short hero’s story…”
“At the beginning of the story, he fought against darkness.”
In a dungeon themed around “darkness”…
Mits, who had grown into a poised young woman, and Carver, now more mature and confident, walked side by side in the dimly lit dungeon, as all couples adventuring in dungeons do.
The team that was once described as “legendary” and led the way in clearing countless challenging dungeons was now just taking its first steps.
Walking through the damp, dark small caves, they were surprisingly relaxed, showing no signs of caution toward the dungeon.
“How boring. Your father wants you to hide your identity while adventuring here. Otherwise, we could go much further.”
She wore a large hat and skipped ahead of Carver like a little bunny.
“It’s because I want to surprise him by relying on my own strength, not my status.”
He adjusted his golden-rimmed glasses. Although his attire was similar to that of an ordinary adventurer, without any ostentatious decorations, all his clothes were chosen for practicality.
But…
His slightly long golden hair revealed a trace of noble bearing that set him apart from the ordinary adventurers around him.
“Even after you’ve proven your abilities in handling various difficult business matters?”
“Even after I’ve proven my abilities—no, I see this as an opportunity. After all, climbing from the bottom up allows me to break through the barriers constructed by my good brothers before me.”
As Carver spoke, he had already pulled the axe from his back.
“Monsters ahead, get ready.”
“Alright, let’s take care of these…”
Standing before a swarm of bats hanging upside down, Mits, who had been skipping like a little bunny, stopped.
She twirled the beautiful staff in her hand, smiling happily.
“Let’s deal with all of them!”
“Travelogue along the way, filled with the vibrancy of flowers.”
In a dungeon themed around “a sea of flowers”…
Under the bright sunlight, there were colorful flowers dyed in various hues.
“Mits, you must have noticed it, these flowers are not right.”
The two stood back-to-back in a serene sea of flowers, yet they did not let down their guard to admire it.
They took out their weapons at the same time with perfect coordination.
“I’m a great magician, do you think I wouldn’t notice? However… these flowers have given me some creative inspiration…”
“Creative inspiration…” Carver sighed with a hint of helplessness. “What is it? Are you going to invent something new and interesting that I don’t know about?”
“Well…”
Mits smiled mischievously and extended her hand, her staff brushing past the sea of flowers before her.
Her movements were gentle, causing faint ripples in the bed of flowers.
Along with these ripples, one could see the colors of the flowers changing…
“Dear Mr. Carver~ Could you be a little gentler when you swing your axe later?”
“Understood. These petals are highly sensitive to magic?”
“Yes. They might be beautiful samples, but…”
While Mits spoke, she tilted her head, dodging a lightning chain ball that shot out from a bright yellow flower.
“We still need to get out of here alive, don’t we?”
“A dungeon that wipes out an entire elite party with the highest clear record? It’s probably yet to be born.”
“Death-defying wings, buried beneath his sword.”
In a dungeon themed around “flying dragons”…
Dragon wings swooshing past overhead grazed the tip of Carver’s axe.
“Hiss…”
He rolled twice on the ground and looked up, seeing Mits forced to lie down in a pit from anti-air bombardment.
“Mits, you don’t look very elegant right now.”
“Hey! Is this the time to say that? If we can’t deal with that Fire Dragon at the very top, none of us will be able to get out of here—”
“Shall I give it a try?”
Carver crouched down, picked up the axe from the ground, and swung it amidst the flying dragons’ repeated low-altitude strafing runs.
“Carver, watch out behind you—”
“…It’s okay, it’s this exact moment—”
He threw the axe in his hand with the pull of gravity.
The sound of his arm dislocating could be heard.
But as the axe struck the overwhelmingly large wings of the Fire Dragon in the sky, he also heard the roar of a magic array reactivating from behind him—
“Get behind me, I’ll handle the rest.”
…
…………
“He crossed mountains, he swam across seas.”
Memories unfolded on the wall like a projector in a movie, accompanied by a soulful song, a heroic ballad sung by a minstrel, silently and without mercy, projecting scene after scene, story after story.
“He trekked long distances, he conquered towers.”
What was recounted through word of mouth as simply “After clearing dungeon after dungeon, he ascended to the pinnacle of adventuring and naturally inherited the Hysterm Family” was, in fact, Carver’s honest five-year journey.
There were experiences of nearly losing his life.
In the hospital, while severely injured, they held each other’s hands and laughed at each other’s equally grimy faces.
There were experiences of losing companions.
In the Adventurer’s Guild cemetery, before a small grave, they laid flowers together for a child they had only known for a short time, who had already sacrificed themselves in a dungeon.
There were also experiences of calculating everything to achieve victory.
They smiled at each other amidst the immense loot on the sixtieth floor, the deepest point at the time.
“For what did he set out? For what did he win? For what did he die?”
Written across the long pages of his life story, turning faster and faster. The readers, initially slightly interested, grew impatient with the repetitive “hero’s growth epic” as it progressed. Finally, with a swish, they flipped to the last chapter—
As the end of all hero stories goes.
He obtained the position of family head as he wished.
Turning his fate around from being the weakest child.
His great achievements were spread throughout the streets and alleys.
But it was precisely on the day of the end…
The heroine of the story would witness her own…
The universally known ending of “betrayal.”
“When his name was asked, the poet’s song ended, and no one knew.”
…
…………
Twenty-five years ago, on a rainy day.
“The poet’s song ended… and no one knew…”
On that day, Mits waited at the Capital Adventurer’s Guild for a very long time.
She had changed out of her old adventurer’s boots and her braided hairstyle, which she thought was “convenient for fighting.” She wore small leather shoes and stockings that only little girls wore, and let down her long brown hair, the slightly curled ends still bouncy. She stood there.
Humming a song she loved but rarely had the chance to finish alone.
The Adventurer’s Guild entrance was magnificent, with adventurers coming and going, offering their congratulations to the newly appointed family head.
“The Guild is even livelier than usual. Is this what the headquarters looks like?”
She had been waiting at the entrance since Carver entered the building in the morning to assume his position as family head…
She waited until the endless songs and celebrations inside concluded, until the sky outside slowly darkened, until a light rain began to fall.
She still couldn’t understand…
Why Carver had left that morning without a word, without saying goodbye.
She couldn’t understand why Carver had told her she couldn’t go inside at the entrance of the Adventurer’s Guild headquarters.
She still didn’t understand…
Why…
Carver, who had reached the pinnacle as she had said, had lost his natural smile. His eyes behind his newly acquired family head’s golden-rimmed glasses were covered by a thick layer of dust. He held an umbrella and had his arm around another woman’s shoulder.
“You’re here. You look very busy today.”
She walked over and naturally ducked under Carver’s umbrella.
“…”
Carver, who had clearly put on a show, remained silent, his face displaying “panic” as if caught red-handed.
As if determined to finish the act.
The woman beside him glanced at Mits with apparent smugness and leaned up to kiss Carver.
“You—!”
“Well then, Mr. Carver~ It’s been a pleasure tonight. See you tomorrow.”
Her finger slid across Carver’s cheek, and only when it reached his chin did Carver’s lips curve into a faint smile.
“Okay, see you tomorrow.”
He seemed lost in thought, and it wasn’t until the woman walked away that he seemed to remember to put his arm around her waist.
Immediately after, he turned and looked at Mits.
His umbrella, however, subconsciously tilted in Mits’s direction.
“Since you’ve seen it, there’s no helping it, Mits. I’m sorry, I actually have been for a long time…”
“Why are you acting in front of me?”
Mits interrupted him directly, stepping forward with an all-knowing gaze.
“You’re certainly good at acting. But perhaps you’ve forgotten? I’ve seen the truest you, so no matter how you perform, I can see through you—not a single move looks like betrayal. I give this performance zero points!”
“I’m sorry. This time you’re really mistaken…”
“Give me the umbrella. We can talk it over slowly later. I can see that you’re tired and need rest.”
Mits reached for his hand holding the umbrella, but Carver remained still.
“…”
“What happened? Why do you need to do this?”
She tiptoed, wanting to see his eyes more clearly beneath his drooping golden hair, to know his current mood.
But…
Carver turned his head away, avoiding her concerned gaze.
“?!”
“It’s raining heavily, your stockings are getting dirty. Don’t mind me. You go back alone.”
Carver handed the umbrella in his hand to Mits.
This action already conveyed his stance.
“What are you talking about? Aren’t you coming with me…”
“The Hysterm Family estate—the one we own together—I’m giving it to you.”
“But you yourself said it was our estate!”
“I correct myself. It is now yours alone,” Carver said with a rapid change in tone. “Starting today, I don’t need you anymore. Go wherever you want.”
Mits had never heard Carver speak in such a low, muffled voice.
“So, by embracing another woman and not wanting to see me all day, you wanted me to discover it myself… and leave?”
“…”
Faced with Mits, who was uniquely difficult to “deceive,” Carver could only respond with even deeper silence.
“You don’t need me? If you think clearing dungeons is too dangerous, I can stop doing those things and help you organize…”
“I don’t need you for any of this anymore. I wish you… would disappear from my sight forever.”
“…!?”
At this point, Mits sensed something unusual about Carver.
It wasn’t the rare instance of him putting on a play for her, but something deeper, an unchangeable anomaly he had confirmed.
“What happened? Let me think, could it be that in the position of family head, you learned a secret that might put me in danger? Or perhaps the behind-the-scenes forces of the Hysterm Family don’t want us together? No… none of these seem right. Could it be related to the pressure from the Guild?”
Mits offered countless reasons in an instant.
But not a single one of them doubted Carver’s feelings for her.
Not a single one.
She looked at his dejected expression sternly and gave this series of her answers.
But in the end—
“No. That’s not right. These are not things the Carver I know would do.”
She dismissed each possibility herself and pinched Carver’s face with her free hand.
“Is there something you want to protect me from, something you can’t let me get involved in? Look me in the eyes and answer me.”
But Carver still avoided her gaze.
“How about this, just assume that up until now, I was using you, I was deceiving you.”
“You… even while facing me… you still use this phrasing?!”
Her eyes widened, she withdrew her hand and clenched her fist.
“I know very well. You only resort to finding a reason that others can accept to fool me when you want to hide something!”
She threw a punch at Carver.
Carver made no move to dodge.
But…
Her fist stopped midway.
“Never mind. Precisely because I know you, I know that once you’ve decided on a path… you won’t turn back.”
“…?”
Carver showed a slightly confused expression, but Mits pushed his fingers aside and placed the umbrella back into his palm.
“I don’t know what news you’ve learned that has made you so determined, but…” Water droplets dripped from Mits’s brown hair. “If one day you’re willing to tell me everything…”
She didn’t take the umbrella and stepped out of its cover.
In the blurred rain, she raised her head, her brown eyes still shining.
“Come find me, and I will always wait for you, until the day I die.”
After saying that, she stepped firmly into the deeper rain, her leather shoes stained with mud from the rain.
Carver’s hand, holding the umbrella handle, slightly opened. As it was returned to him, Mits slipped something into his hand.
It was…
Two rings.
—Rings identical to the one he was wearing on his right hand right now.
—His name was also engraved on the ring.
