“I remember you. You were Mr. Roland’s teacher.” Li Yue changed her appearance, manifesting her form adorned in divine raiment. Merlin remained calm, looking every bit the street magician.
“You are... ‘Death,’ aren’t you?” Merlin smiled and produced a small deck of cards. His clothes became brand new; stars seemed to flow across his originally pitch-black suit.
“Yes, but that identity is not important.” Li Yue shook her head. She walked alongside the old gentleman. Previously, he looked like a wandering street performer; now, he resembled a magician who frequently graced the stage.
“Indeed, many of our identities are unimportant. Here, I am merely an ordinary magician, performing to earn enough for my daily expenses.” Merlin chuckled.
“Is that so... That is a good thing. But even if one discards an identity, the things brought along with it cannot be cast aside.” Li Yue sighed. Discarding her status as a demigod—she wanted that too...
“You said earlier you were his student, and I am his teacher...” Merlin paused. “I never expected he would have such an incredible student.”
“If I become monstrously wicked in the future, I will never mention my connection to him again...” Li Yue’s voice was flat, even tinged with pessimism.
“Don’t think like that. Magic itself is a miracle, is it not?” Merlin pulled out a very short wand, about thirty centimeters long.
“Resurrection... is it possible?” Li Yue asked slowly.
“Even ‘Death’ cannot achieve that.”
“That is why I called it a miracle... Never mind.” Li Yue trailed off, stopping mid-sentence.
“I only learned of Roland’s death long after it happened. Looking at his deeds, don’t they seem like a miracle?” Merlin casually pulled out a card depicting a young boy.
“That was just... the desperate struggle of the weak...” Li Yue looked at the sea in the distance, her heart still filled with confusion and pain.
“I don’t have the answers you seek. Perhaps no one can give them to you.” Merlin shuffled the cards. “Fate sets the future in stone; changing fate is what we call a miracle.”
“Pick one.”
“Alright.” Li Yue randomly drew a card. It depicted a crown of thorns. She was puzzled, but found that Merlin had already walked far away.
“We will meet again. Consider that card... my gift to you.” Merlin’s appearance gradually aged, his clothes turning ragged once more. “I am sorry for Roland’s death, but I was powerless... Such is fate. However, miracles do happen...”
Merlin’s figure vanished from Li Yue’s sight. She felt a bit at a loss. Though she didn’t know what the card was, it had a unique texture. She felt that in that moment, something had been changed, though she couldn't put her finger on it...
The card in her hand slowly dissipated, seemingly merging into her being.
Roland’s teacher... a strange but powerful man...
She sat down in a cafe near the harbor, quietly waiting for her ship to depart.
Meanwhile, Merlin was performing magic for a child. He turned a flower into a fountain pen and gave it to the boy. At that moment, the boy’s fate seemed to deviate by a hair’s breadth. Into that originally dim and lightless destiny, something else had entered.
After going home, he would start drafting his diary with that ink-filled pen. Later, he would read, and in the days to come, literature would become the light of his life. Even without the talent for magic, he would find something to comfort him.
Merlin continued down the street, creating one miracle after another. Just now, he had attempted the greatest feat of his life.
Roland... I never expected you to bring me a miracle as well... Perhaps... fate will lead to a better ending, finishing when it should end... and starting when it should begin.
He looked into the distance as the ship set sail. He gazed at the massive vessel. Amidst overlapping phantoms, the absolute darkness seemed to gain a few glimmers of light...
“Perhaps my time teaching there wasn’t entirely useless.” He laughed self-deprecatingly and conjured a violin. Sitting on a roadside bench, he began to play a tune for a few raggedly dressed people across from him. It was a piece written by Roland; he had seen it in a report.
Back then, he was a strict professor, and Roland was just a graduating student. He had seen a flicker of future possibility in that youth whose past life was filled with both suffering and luck. And today, he had finally met the lady known as “Death.”
“Well then... where are we... the final chapter? Or... the opening?” he murmured. The melodious violin music accompanied his footsteps from the head of the street to the end of the alley. Hungry people forgot their hunger, those in pain recalled the happy moments of their lives, and the desperate began to find new hope and goals...
Accept whatever happens with joy; everything is a gift. We give, and we receive.
Li Yue lay on her small bed as the ship drifted slowly across the sea. She thought of nothing, simply lying there, imagining herself as a state of pure nothingness. Yet, in her chest, there was a tiny spark of anticipation and excitement, preventing her heart from settling completely.
Perhaps emotions hadn't entirely vanished.
On the distant continent, a young girl closed her book. She brushed her deep blue hair and directed servants to move furniture. This wasn't an attic, a castle, or a tower; it was just a house in a town affiliated with Karl Romon Academy.
A smile played on her face. For the first time in a long while, she felt a sense of freedom.
Because at this moment... someone was coming.
Rate on N.U.
