Chapter 146
Chapter 146
At the same time, Yoon Haul was lost in thought, chewing on a red bean bun she had bought from the school store.
Completely unaware of the chaos unfolding in the library with the engagement crisis, she calmly organized her thoughts, just like any other day.
“Ah, right.”
Suddenly, something came to her mind.
“I should have told Han Siha.”
She had heard something from the librarian about an unknown sponsor for a particular book. This information could be a crucial clue.
‘It says here that the Willow family sent it. A total of 124 books, including this one. They’ve been generous sponsors every year. Truly kind people.’
She had missed the opportunity to share this with Han Siha because he had suddenly left for the Castica territory.
Yoon Haul abruptly stood up. She planned to ask him about it right away. Even if she didn’t know much, Han Siha, with his wide connections, might know something.
“Willow family… The Willow family sponsored over a hundred books….”
She muttered the name under her breath as she hurried her steps.
“Willow…”
Then Yoon Haul suddenly stopped in her tracks, frowning.
“Wait a second.”
It was a name she had heard before. Someone she knew.
“Natalie Willow?”
She was too close.
—
“The books were sponsored by the Willow family?”
Han Siha asked, surprised at Yoon Haul’s words.
It was a relief to have found the sponsor, but he hadn’t expected it to be Natalie’s family.
Han Siha pondered the contents of the book and nodded.
“It was related to artifacts.”
The book described not only the cube but also historically famous weapons and artifacts.
It wasn’t far-fetched that Natalie’s family, known for their expertise in artifact technology, would have these books. Though, of course, it was still just a guess.
“If they donated over a hundred books, they might have done so without much thought.”
“Yeah. If it was important, they probably wouldn’t have donated it.”
“What we need to find isn’t the sponsor but the author of the book.”
Han Siha and Yoon Haul exchanged glances and nodded.
The chances that Natalie knew the author of this book were slim. But not asking her would be foolish. They had to cling to even the smallest clue, and Natalie was that clue.
“Shall we check?”
Han Siha stood up with a smile.
“I’ll ask her.”
For now, they could only hope they’d find something worthwhile.
—
Natalie Willow.
After Han Siha’s advice, she had cut out all unnecessary tasks.
Thanks to that, she was looking much healthier, shedding the “zombie Natalie” image and returning to being “everyone’s sunshine” Natalie.
Natalie made her way to the bench with quick steps.
Sitting alone on the bench, reading a book in the still-chilly weather, was Han Siha.
“What are you doing here?”
Han Siha closed his book and smiled. In his hand was a book with no title.
“Reading?”
“I borrowed it from the library.”
Han Siha was reading a book titled “Untitled,” which he had taken out of his spatial bag, and Natalie sat beside him without a word.
Flip—
Han Siha rested his chin on his hand as he flipped through the thin pages. The book was filled with descriptions of artifacts that looked quite complicated at first glance.
But these were things Natalie had been familiar with and played around with since she was young.
She already knew the information in that book.
“Do you like this kind of stuff? It might be a bit difficult for you, Siha.”
“I’m studying. Do you know what it’s about?”
“It’s a classification chart for broomsticks. The purpose of the broom changes depending on how it’s made.”
“Were you good at flying?”
“No. Just the broomsticks. I’m not very good at riding them. Here, the longer ones are for household use. The shorter ones are for competitions.”
From broomsticks that could carry cargo to those that maximized comfort, the world of artifacts was broader than one might think.
Han Siha, on the other hand, preferred carriages over broomsticks.
“This is an artifact that enhances a staff. I made one before with my father’s help.”
“Artifacts?”
“This is basic stuff, nothing too difficult.”
Why did she go into the water bottle business when she had this kind of talent?
She could have gone into artifact manufacturing.
Han Siha was both impressed and bewildered by Natalie’s abilities.
He knew she was the wealthy only daughter of an artifact-manufacturing family, but he hadn’t expected her to have such skill in making them herself.
Of course, that wasn’t the main concern at the moment.
Han Siha carefully observed Natalie’s reactions as he turned the pages.
Staffs, daggers, potions, jewelry…
Whenever an artifact she recognized came up, Natalie smiled and explained.
“This one, I’ve seen it before….”
“That’s a very rare artifact!”
“This one’s really expensive!”
They went on like this for a while.
Han Siha swallowed nervously as he turned to the next page.
Page 325 of “Untitled.”
It was the page that described the cube.
Han Siha fixed his gaze on the illustration of the cube and hesitated to turn the page.
Honestly, he didn’t expect much.
Most people would just flip past it without a second thought.
The cube was such an insignificant artifact, practically forgotten in the present day.
The chances that Natalie would recognize the cube were almost nonexistent.
Or rather, she shouldn’t recognize it.
“…”
As expected, Natalie didn’t show much reaction, and Han Siha smiled as he turned the page.
It would look strange to linger too long on this part.
But then—
“Cube…?”
Her voice trembled slightly, but she clearly said it.
“Isn’t this a cube?”
“What?”
Han Siha looked up in shock at Natalie’s reaction.
“You know what a cube is?”
I should have pretended not to know, but it was too late.
Overwhelmed by shock, Natalie blurted out the question.
She stared down at the book, her expression one of confusion.
That expression wasn’t one of someone who had absentmindedly recited the book’s contents. It was the face of someone who knew something for sure.
“Yes, I do know.”
Natalie slowly nodded, and then her eyes widened in surprise as she asked,
“But how do you know about the Cube, Siha?”
I paused for a moment, considering how to respond.
I needed to decide whether it was safe to reveal this information.
In *Academy Chronicles*, Natalie was portrayed as a protagonist with little influence on the main plot, someone who was generally good-natured. She was a side character, unconnected to the major events of the story.
But the current situation was far more complex than the game’s simplistic portrayal.
In the original story, Han Si-hyuk wasn’t as strong, Natalie had never been involved in anything related to the Cube, and Seymour was a dark mage who betrayed the Academy.
Given these differences, I couldn’t rely solely on the data from the game.
Instead, I had to trust the Natalie I had seen and interacted with.
“I know about the Cube because I have it.”
Natalie’s eyes widened in shock.
“You… you have the Cube?”
It was a dangerous revelation, the kind of secret that could cost me my life if it leaked to the dark mages.
But given how surprised she was, it was clear that Natalie had no involvement with the dark mages.
This made it all the more necessary to find out what she knew.
“How do you know about the Cube?”
Natalie furrowed her brow, looking serious.
“Well… because the Cube was….”
“Yeah?”
“My grandfather made it.”
What?
“Your… your grandfather made the Cube?”
This was something I hadn’t expected.
—
“Your grandfather made the Cube?”
“Yes. He really did.”
My mind went blank for a moment.
It took me a while to organize my thoughts.
I held my throbbing head as I cautiously asked Natalie,
“So… your grandfather created the Cube, meaning it’s an artifact made by humans?”
“Most artifacts are made by humans, after all.”
If you think about it, it’s a logical conclusion.
If the Cube wasn’t a naturally occurring phenomenon, it was likely an artifact. Which means there had to be someone who created it.
But I never imagined that it would be the Willow family.
Not only did Natalie know about the Cube, but she knew everything about it.
“Do you recognize this book, then?”
“I haven’t seen it before….”
Natalie took the “Untitled” book and flipped through a few pages.
“It does seem familiar, like something that was in my house when I was younger.”
“Do you know who wrote it?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe my grandfather?”
Though she didn’t recognize the handwriting, Natalie suspected that only someone from her family could have compiled such extensive information.
She shook her head when I mentioned that the book had been donated to the library by the Willow family.
“We’ve never donated this book. It… it must have been sent by mistake.”
It turned out that this unique book, the only one of its kind, created by the Willow family and never intended for public distribution, had accidentally been donated to the Academy’s library.
Normally, it would have gone unnoticed, but it was discovered by Yoon Haul, who practically lived in the library.
If Yoon Haul hadn’t joined the resistance, she might have overlooked the significance of the book and the Cube entirely….
In a way, Yoon Haul joining the resistance introduced an unexpected variable.
As long as that variable worked in our favor, that was all that mattered.
Natalie, who knew more about the Cube than anyone else among us, had become someone whose help I now needed.
“Tell me everything you know about the Cube.”
“It was originally designed as a power source. My grandfather wanted to create a magic-powered train instead of a steam engine.”
“A magic-powered train?”
There were indeed things in this world that could be powered by magical energy, like the magical hologram devices.
The chaotic development of technology in this world was largely due to the disparity between what could and couldn’t be achieved with magic.
The magic-powered train fell into the latter category.
“To move a heavy train, you’d need an enormous amount of magical energy, but it wasn’t feasible. That’s when my grandfather thought, what if he could create an artifact that could produce nearly infinite magical energy and condense it into a small, usable form?”
The Willow family scoured the continent to find the materials needed to create such an artifact.
Eventually, they discovered a mineral that fit the bill: luminescent stone, which was highly condensed with magical energy.
“They ground up an enormous amount of luminescent stone to create a single Cube. But depending on the combination of luminescent stones, the Cube began to exhibit entirely different abilities….”
“So that’s the origin of the Cube’s abilities?”
“Yes. The original idea wasn’t to create a magical artifact with abilities, but to control it, they refined it with a specific ability and placed a restriction on it.”
“Why add the restriction?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but… when creating an artifact, there’s always a cost involved with the magic rituals.”
Even small artifacts have some kind of restriction.
For example, the sword Han-taesu gave me had the restriction of ‘desperation,’ and even ordinary staffs, though it might not seem like it, come with certain restrictions and costs.
“You can’t use a staff indefinitely, right? That’s because the lifespan of the staff is equivalent to the cost. But with the Cube… given the immense power it holds, an even stronger magical restriction was placed on it.”
The Cube of Resurrection was a prime example.
It had the incredible ability to bring the dead back to life, but at the cost of the user’s own life.
I nodded as I listened to Natalie’s explanation.
“The early Cube was just a power source with various abilities, nothing more.”
“Right.”
“It’s different now.”
Sometimes, things end up on a path completely unintended by their creators.
Nobel’s dynamite was invented to create a safer explosive but ended up as a deadly weapon that killed countless people.
The Cube, too, was initially developed as a convenient power source, but someone’s greed had corrupted it.
Natalie knew that the Cube had been stolen at some point and was being used somewhere, though she wasn’t sure of the details.
She had avoided talking about it, likely because her grandfather had been careful not to discuss it.
But I needed to tell Natalie the truth her grandfather hadn’t wanted to reveal.
“The dark mages are after the Cube.”
I intended to tell her everything.
—
Natalie joined the resistance on that very day.
Recruiting her hadn’t been part of the original plan, but at this stage, we couldn’t afford to leave her out.
After hearing the full story, Natalie sat in silence, deep in thought.
The ever-cheerful Natalie was gone, replaced by someone who seemed burdened by the knowledge that her grandfather had created the Cube. She felt a sense of responsibility.
Nevertheless, her deep understanding of artifacts made her a valuable ally at this critical moment.
“Is this the place?”
“Yes!”
And so, Natalie led us to her family’s workshop.
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