Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 63

[Translation By Divinity]

But Ray continued, his face serious.

“Being a spirit, he was close to mythical creatures and captured them in his paintings. That’s why his depictions of mythical creatures are, in a sense, quite realistic. He hoped for communication between humans and mythical creatures through his art.”

Damian looked at him as if he were crazy. He had learned about the existence of spirits through Lilliana. But this was the first time in his life he had seen someone other than Lilliana seriously acknowledge the existence of spirits. Damian suddenly began to doubt if the man in front of him was sane.

Regardless of Damian’s reaction, Ray continued in a somewhat melancholic tone.

“But there was always an unbridgeable gap. Although mythical creatures weren’t immortal like gods, their lifespans and ways of life were very different from humans. Humans couldn’t understand this. And as human science and technology advanced, they no longer needed the power of mythical creatures and couldn’t find a reason to coexist with them.”

As he continued his explanation, he moved on to the next painting, and Damian followed him a few steps to the side.

The next painting was also by Yugo Song and depicted the interior of an old-looking house. A middle-aged woman was stirring something in a pot on the stove, and a young woman and children were watching her. The title “The Witch’s House” was written next to the frame.

“Wizards still exist.”

Ray said, abruptly changing the subject from the painting.

“Magic is a power passed down through bloodlines, so those bloodlines still exist today.”

“…?”

Damian was thoroughly confused now and looked at Ray as if he were insane.

“If mythical creatures exist, then of course wizards must have existed too.”

“Yes, but to say they still exist…”

Damian, who still found the concept of mythical creatures far-fetched, had never even considered the existence of wizards.

But Ray spoke as if it were obvious.

“Just as mythical creatures no longer reveal themselves to humans, wizards also chose to disappear into the shadows of history. That’s why you don’t see them. And even back then, their numbers were very small. Encountering a wizard was difficult even in the past.”

“Ah… Yes…”

“The middle-aged woman here is a witch, and the painting depicts women and children who seem to have come to request a potion or simply visit. The witch’s expression is gentle, and the visitors show no signs of wariness or fear, right? That’s what wizards were like. Beings you didn’t need to be afraid of. People would request spells from wizards, and wizards would lend them their magic. This made people’s lives more prosperous.”

Unintentionally, Damian listened quietly to Ray’s explanation, and he seemed to relax and speak more comfortably.

“However, as human science, technology, and civilization caught up with magic, people started to shun wizards. Because their power was an unknown force that couldn’t be explained by science. Humans fear the unknown. So, as science advanced, wizards, at some point, became beings people felt uneasy being around.”

Damian was increasingly feeling a sense of dissonance with Ray’s explanation. He was focusing more on the relationship between mythical creatures and humans depicted in the paintings than on the paintings themselves.

With this growing suspicion, Damian asked Ray,

“But they coexisted peacefully until then, didn’t they? Both wizards and mythical creatures. I don’t understand why they suddenly became beings to be distanced from just because science and technology advanced.”

“Because they became beings to be feared.”

“Why…?”

“The reason people started fearing mythical creatures is because of Oracis Shelbyr, the first king who founded this country, Istarica.”

“Because of the king…?”

“You know the story about Oracis building this country with the help of divine beasts, spirits, and wizards, right?”

“Yes, but that’s just an exaggerated legend. As with any heroic myth.”

Ray shook his head at Damian’s rebuttal.

“Of course, there are exaggerations, but the fact that he borrowed the power of mythical creatures is true. It’s clearly written in history books.”

But Damian wondered how many people actually believed that story. It was a tale from five hundred years ago, and there was no concrete evidence to prove it. All they could rely on were the records of historians, which were bound to contain some embellishments and subjective interpretations.

Damian started to wonder if he should continue listening to this man who claimed to be an art museum curator. But Ray continued, undeterred.

“Oracis’s use of mythical creatures and magic made people fear them more than revere them. He proved that building a nation was easy if you could harness the power of mythical creatures and magic. Although mythical creatures and humans had a decent relationship before, there were always attempts to exploit their power. But Oracis was the first to utilize them on such a grand scale.”

“If there were constant attempts, why didn’t anyone succeed before Oracis?”

“Oracis was special. He interacted with many mythical creatures, and the spirits, in particular, were friendly towards him. Do you know why?”

“…Is it because of the legend that Oracis Shelbyr was a spirit himself?”

Ray smiled brightly at Damian’s answer. For a moment, Damian felt a sense of déjà vu from that smile. He was sure he had seen someone smile like that before, using those same facial muscles…

“That’s right. There is a legend that Oracis was a spirit, but it’s only half true. In reality, Oracis wasn’t purely human; he was born between a spirit and a human. That’s why the spirits protected him. Well, people just think he was simply a spirit.”

Ray spoke casually, but Damian’s eyes narrowed. Normally, he would have scoffed at such a claim, dismissing it as an exaggerated founding myth. But Damian knew Lilliana, who had revealed herself to be a half-spirit, half-human hybrid.

If Lilliana was truly half-spirit, then it was entirely possible that similar beings existed in the past. It wouldn’t be strange if Oracis was one of them.

However, blindly believing Ray’s claim that the legend was true was difficult without any evidence. He hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, and there was no proof left behind.

According to history books, Oracis was the legitimate heir of the Shelbyr Grand Duchy, which later became the Kingdom of Istarica.

People dismissed the idea of Oracis being a spirit as an excessive deification.

“That’s why some members of the Shelbyr lineage have the blood of spirits flowing in their veins.”

“Well, some people claim that.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

Ray asked in a hurt voice, but Damian replied nonchalantly,

“I neither believe nor disbelieve.”

Damian’s mind was buzzing with thoughts, so he cracked his neck and then asked,

“By the way, how do you know the story about Yugo Song being a spirit? Are there any records of that?”

“Ah, there probably aren’t any records. Yugo Song was a painter whose face was unknown.”

Ray’s answer made Damian frown.

“Then how do you know that?”

“Because I know ‘her.'”

“You know…? And by ‘her,’ you mean a woman?”

At Damian’s question, Ray just smiled without answering.

Damian’s palms were sweating. He started to wonder if he should even be listening to this man’s stories.

‘This guy is strange. He’s strange.’

Damian averted his gaze slightly and thought,

‘Is he crazy?’

He had asked for an explanation about the paintings, but all he got was a rambling story about mythical creatures and unverifiable claims presented as facts. It was definitely strange for someone who called himself a curator.

Discord: discord.com/invite/cPdAhxcXn5