Novel

His mind was immediately fixated on those fluttering strands of hair. The moment he saw them, Eugene threw himself down the stairs without hesitation. Gargith was following behind him, and he let out a startled cry, but the sound of his voice couldn’t reach Eugene’s ears.

The square below was packed with people, but Eugene rushed into the crowd without caring. He made his way forward by pushing aside the people who got in his way and diving through the gaps.

There was no way that Eugene had made a mistake. He would recognize that unique hair color even if he was forced to pick it out from hundreds or thousands of people. A seemingly-unnatural brightly colored purple — that color was created by Sienna’s vast amounts of mana spreading through her hair.

‘It’s Sienna,’ Eugene realized.

Could it be a hallucination? No, there was no way.

Eugene swung his head from side to side as he dove into the crowd.

In a place like this, and under such circumstances, there was no way that he could have been mistaken.

When Eugene saw her, he stood rooted on the spot, stunned, staring straight ahead.Fôllôw 𝒏ew stories at n𝒐/v(e)lb/in(.)com

He tried to speak, but words failed him, “….”

That was Sienna walking in the distance. It was definitely her. Her figure hadn’t changed a bit compared to three hundred years ago. Though it seemed like her hair had gotten a lot longer. But that was only to be expected after three hundred years had flown by. As Eugene clutched his pounding chest, he drew closer to Sienna.

Although he had gotten right behind her, Sienna still hadn’t noticed Eugene’s presence. Eugene felt that was understandable, considering how many people were in this square. But what was he supposed to say to her? Although Eugene had recognized Sienna, she probably wouldn’t be able to tell who Eugene really was.

I’m Hamel, but I was reincarnated as Vermouth’s descendant.

No, really. I’m telling you, this isn’t a lie. I really am Hamel.

As Eugene imagined how such a conversation would go, he reached out to Sienna.

Sienna, that damned chick, wouldn’t believe him so easily. She might even curse at him and tell him to stop with his bullshit.

He would actually be thankful if she did. As it would mean that despite the passage of three hundred years, her personality hadn’t changed all that much from what he could remember of her; she would still have the same bad attitude, and her mouth would be as rough as always.

“Sienna,” Eugene called out her name with a shaking voice.

Then he reached out and tried to grab Sienna’s wrist, but he couldn’t get a hold of her.

Although she was right in front of him, Eugene couldn’t touch Sienna. And that wasn’t the only strange thing. Eugene blankly took in the scene as people began walking through Sienna’s image from all sides.

Truthfully, Eugene had already noticed this as he was getting closer. Sienna hadn’t avoided any of the people walking in her direction, and they had all just walked right through her. And even though the color of her hair was so eye-catching, no one was paying any attention to her. Instead, they just kept eying Eugene with annoyed looks as he roughly barged his way through the crowd.

‘A ghost?’

Eugene couldn’t feel any presence coming from Sienna, who was right in front of him. He had reached out several times, but he still wasn’t able to touch her. He couldn’t feel any of the warmth of a human being coming from her. Although, she didn’t feel cold either.

In fact, he couldn’t feel anything from her. Like a fantasm or a ghost, even though it was definitely right in front of one’s eyes, it didn’t feel real.

Sienna’s footsteps stopped. Eugene also came to a halt. Sienna turned her head, and Eugene lowered his outstretched hand. Since he couldn’t catch her even if he tried to hold her, he felt that there was no point in continuing to try.

Eugene looked at Sienna’s face. And just as he had expected, the mansion’s portrait and the statue in front of the tower of magic both looked better than the real thing.

The Sienna in the portrait had softened her usually disgruntled expression and instead put on a benevolent smile.

The Sienna sculpted into a statue was smiling with bravery and confidence.

But the Sienna in front of him didn’t have either of those expressions. Instead, her eyes were filled with irritation and fatigue. Her lips wouldn’t stop mumbling day in and day out. At the very least, her face was still exactly as Eugene remembered.

Now what kind of expression should he put on?

First of all, Eugene showed her a grin. But then he had a sudden thought. If he just smiled at her like this, Sienna wouldn’t be able to recognize him. Since she hadn’t responded to his numerous calls from behind her, it looked like she probably couldn’t hear his voice either.

But she had still turned to look behind her.

Didn’t that mean that she could still see with her eyes?

“Now then.”

Eugene immediately held up both of his middle fingers at Sienna.

Sienna blinked in shock at this sight. Her lips parted slightly before closing once more. Then she giggled and smiled. That smile was exactly the same as the one that Eugene remembered.

Sienna’s lips began to move. Although he couldn’t hear her voice, Eugene could tell what she was trying to convey from her silent lip movements.

I’ve found you.

Sienna’s lips formed these three words.

Following this, Sienna’s figure disappeared right in front of Eugene’s eyes. Just like a puff of smoke, Sienna’s image faded away into thin air. Eugene stood there dumbly for a few moments, staring at the spot where Sienna had disappeared.

“I’ve also found you,” Eugene eventually said as he turned around with a grin.

“Sienna Merdein,” Eugene muttered her name.

His heart felt like a weight had been lifted off of it. Sienna wasn’t dead. He was sure of it. The thing that he had seen just now was neither a ghost nor a phantom left behind after she had died.

It was an illusion created by magic.

‘I’ve found you.’

Sienna was still alive. She had survived and come looking for Eugene. But how had she known to look? Was it because he had given the middle fingers to her portrait? ‘If that pisses you off, you can come right at me,’ hadn’t he said something like that? Had she really heard those words and come looking for him?

‘There’s no way.’

The mansion had been preserved as a historical site for over a hundred years. Countless people visited the mansion each day, and blinded by superstition, they would mumble all sorts of things, like passing their exams and what-not, while staring at her portrait. No matter how great Sienna was, it would be impossible for her to come looking for Eugene after listening to all those mutterings.

‘Maybe she was able to recognize my soul like Tempest did. Or else—’ Eugene lowered his gaze to look down at his necklace, ‘—she may have come looking for the necklace.’

There was probably some kind of spell cast on the necklace.

Although he couldn’t tell what kind of spell it might be, what Eugene knew for sure was that, ‘Sienna knows that I’ve been reincarnated.’

She might have even been expecting it.

And the fact that, ‘Sienna hasn’t died.’

However, it seemed like she was in a situation where she couldn’t come to see him personally. So instead, she had sent an illusion to come looking for him and welcome him back to life.

“She must be sealed somewhere,” Eugene mumbled to himself nonchalantly. “Could she have done it to herself? Even with magic, was it impossible for her to last the full three hundred years without doing so? Or else was she sealed by someone? But who could have done it? A black wizard? A Demon King?”

“In any case, it’s fine now that I know she’s unable to move on her own,” as he muttered this, Eugene stroked his necklace. “Because you’ve come and found me this time, so….”

The smile that Sienna had shown him right before she had vanished into thin air just wouldn’t fade from his mind. Such an annoying chick could actually smile at him like that? This was the first time that he had discovered such a fact.

“So next time, I’ll be the one who goes and finds you.”

Everything was fine as long as she hadn’t died and was still alive somewhere.

With a grin, Eugene left the square. Or at least he tried to.

Gargith suddenly caught up to him and asked, “Where on earth did you run off to in such a hurry?”

“You don’t need to know,” Eugene dismissed the question.

“This place isn’t like Gidol. The streets here are as complex as a maze, and there are a lot of mean and nasty people. A naive villager like you, ignorant of the world, would be tasty prey to people like that.”

“You fucker, are you really calling me a villager because I told you not to call me a country bumpkin? What the hell is the difference between a country bumpkin and a villager?”

“Although a country bumpkin is a derogatory term, a villager is just a realistic description.”

“Damn you, you pig bastard.”

“You’re the one using the wrong terms. I’m not a pig. After all, isn’t pig used to describe people who are round and fat?”

Eugene changed the subject, “You seem to have a lot of pride in your muscles, but after seeing them in action, they’re just big without much substance. Have you forgotten how you lost to me in the arm-wrestling match?”

“…I just got distracted,” Gargith tried to excuse himself.

“Distracted? That’s bullshit. You were all tensed up even before we even started,” Eugene grumbled as he slapped Gargith on the back. “In my eyes, whether it’s your prided muscles or a pig’s jiggling fat, it all looks the same.”

“Don’t insult the muscles created by our family’s revolutionary muscle growth agent.”

“I’m not insulting you. I just think it’s a shame that such carefully sculpted muscles are going to waste. You shouldn’t focus on just pointlessly increasing the size of your body, but instead, think of how to make the best use of your muscles.”

“Indeed….”

Although Eugene had just spat out the first excuse that came to his mind, Gargith’s eyes lit up as if he had attained some great enlightenment.

Gargith nodded, “You’re right. At some point, it seems that I turned away from listening to the voice of my muscles and instead focused solely on showing them off—”

“Leave that nonsense for later when you’re on your own. Just show me your Red Flame Formula,” Eugene demanded.