Chapter 335 – Side Story Three. The Colors of Love (Two)

Rael Row stood motionless, with all external blink lights and sensors turned off.

Rael looked up at the massive form of the Mechanical Citadel with a face full of regret.

“Everyone has moved to the Underground City, and Rael Row has become completely empty. There’s no longer any need to operate it. This vessel, which carried us Dwarves who lost our land to live on, and castaways, drifting across the vast wilderness sea for ages, has finally completed its role and entered its rest.”

Rael added.

He had deliberately set up his laboratory inside the halted Rael Row.

“Rael Row is like a child I created in my lifetime. Isn’t it a father’s duty to watch over his child?”

The air grew solemn.

“How can a building be a child—”

Ray’s words were cut off by Veronica’s elbow jabbing his side.

“Please follow me. This way.”

The group ascended a long staircase installed at the lower part of Rael Row.

As they did, Ray suddenly felt a gaze and looked up.

The lush, drooping branches of the World Tree.

The dazzling sunlight filtering through them.

Right below, at the top of Rael Row’s watchtower, he could see someone’s silhouette looking down this way.

‘Is.’

The Dwarf boy who had made the flight device to allow them to ascend to the Sky Island.

It seemed Rael wasn’t the only one watching over Rael Row.

There was already a guest waiting in the laboratory.

“Hello!”

“Veronica, have you been well?”

An Elf with emerald-green hair smiled softly.

While Rael disappeared into an inner chamber to fetch an invention, the conversation continued.

“Ray, it’s been a while.”

“It’s been a while, Grine.”

“You must have been very busy?”

“A little bus—”

“The last time you visited the settlement was 184 days, 12 hours, and 32 minutes ago.”

A moment of metaphysical horror washed over Ray.

Grine then grinned.

“I’m joking. I made up that number.”

It didn’t seem like it.

“I do think you could be busy. The people who want to see you and need you aren’t only here in the settlement. Ah, did you see the trees growing on your way here?”

The topic of conversation shifted.

According to Grine, the settlement’s operations were now completely stable.

“Planting fruit-bearing trees for food supply… and with the Dwarves…”

Elves, Dwarves, Giants.

And various other animals, large and small.

Under the protection of the new World Tree, the settlement had become an ideal place where multiple races lived in harmony.

“…It’s truly like a dream.”

She was originally a resident of the Last Forest, who had been losing her home along with the aging World Tree.

Having shed the anxieties of the past, her face showed no trace of worry or concern.

At least, on the surface.

‘Her worries aren’t all resolved.’

Ray could see a lump of worry remaining in her Vessel.

And he could intuit.

That the reason she was currently in Rael’s laboratory was related to that very worry.

“This is the invention I mentioned.”

Just then, Rael emerged from inside and placed an object on the table.

A flat, palm-sized cylinder with a needle inside.

“A compass?”

“Yes. That’s correct. You remember the item the Purple Guardian arranged? That compass used to track Redran’s location. I analyzed and applied it to create a new compass.”

A compass is originally a tool for indicating direction.

But Rael’s invention clearly had a different purpose.

Ray felt a strong interest.

“What does it point to?”

“Love.”

“Love? What you mentioned on the way here?”

“Yes, to be precise, this compass’s needle points to the object of one’s love.”

Love.

Veronica’s red eyes also sparkled brightly.

“There are many kinds of love in the world. Love between lovers, love between friends, love between family. Sometimes it can be love for a pet or a cherished possession, not a person. Such loves are also expressed with words like affection, friendship, familial love.”

And.

“Here, the love I’m referring to means love between lovers.”

“Love between lovers!”

“Oh!”

Amid the heated reactions of the boy and girl, Professor Rael’s lecture continued.

“Love, especially romantic affection, is an emotion composed of a giver and a receiver.”

“In other words, you could say there’s a sender and a recipient.”

“Expressed in academic terms, they are distinguished as Rubiseder and Rubised.”

“Love that blooms in the heart has meaning in itself, but when transmitted to and accepted by the right person, it gains incomparably greater significance.”

After his passionate lecture, Rael cleared his throat briefly and concluded.

“This compass can find the Rubised.”

“……”

“……”

Silence.

“…If you hold the compass, the needle will point to the object of your love.”

“Incredible!”

“Oh!”

The reactions were intense.

“Of course, there are conditions. It goes without saying, but the love of the person holding the compass must be genuine.”

If the love isn’t true, the needle won’t move, he meant.

Rael spoke to Veronica, who couldn’t take her eyes off the compass.

“Veronica, would you like to test the compass?”

“Eek? Me? No! No! Absolutely not!”

Her face instantly flushed bright red, and Veronica waved her hands frantically.

She glanced at Ray.

Philip knew who she liked, Unni Ayla knew, Curie knew, Grine knew, Solite knew, even the cat Nero knew.

It was an open secret, with only one person unaware.

And that person was the type who, even if the compass needle pointed to her, would likely say, ‘Veronica, the compass is broken.’

‘Even so!’

She had no intention of revealing her love here and undergoing public execution.

At Veronica’s intense reaction, Rael laughed and said.

“Haha, I’m joking. Actually, the first person to use the compass is already decided.”

He then turned and asked in a serious voice.

“Grine, are you ready?”

“Hmm……”

Grine wore an unusually complex expression.

Are you ready.

Those words meant the following.

Are you ready to find the location of the person you love?

‘Caron.’

Her husband, who had left the Last Forest first to find a place to plant the World Tree’s Seed.

Even now, after the migration to the new home was complete, his whereabouts remained unknown.

In over two hundred years of life, this was the first time they had been apart this long.

When together, they bickered, fought, and nipped at each other, but now that they were separated…

‘I miss him.’

That was Grine’s honest feeling.

Images of Caron floated hazily in her mind, steeped in longing.

He, looking at her with a vague expression, opened his mouth to speak.

「We can wash the dishes a little later, can’t we? Why are you so desperate to get me every day?」

「Huh? Today’s our anniversary? No! Of course I knew. Wha, what, you ask if I prepared something? I don’t have anything like that…」

「You, have you gained weight?」

Snap.

“Grine?”

“That good-for-nothing Elf.”

“Huh?”

“Ah.”

The surrounding air was quiet.

Realizing her slip of the tongue, Grine hurriedly tried to recover.

“Ahem, I’m joking. It’s like a nickname we use between ourselves?”

It wasn’t very effective.

“Emotions in the Vessel don’t lie…”

Thwack!

Ray shut his mouth at Veronica’s elbow jabbing the same spot as before.

Grine, her face flushed, quickly took the compass and held it in her hand.

“……”

Now, if she thought of the person she loved, the needle would point to their location.

But why was she hesitating?

A question bloomed in her heart.

Do I still love Caron?

A relationship spanning nearly two hundred years.

The initial excitement and fresh feelings had clearly faded in many ways.

In fact, wasn’t her current feeling closer to friendship than love?

That’s why she was afraid.

What if the needle didn’t move?

After hesitating for a long time, Grine finally made up her mind and gripped the compass tightly.

She thought of Caron’s face.

“Ah.”

The moment her heart sank at the sight of the motionless compass.

Whirrr!

The needle began spinning fiercely.

Grine felt deep relief, but at the same time, a curiosity arose.

Whether Caron, that husband-like Elf’s love, remained the same.

Tick!

Under everyone’s focused gaze, the racing needle stopped.

All heads gathered over the compass.

“North?”

“It’s pointing north!”

“Hmm, if it’s a location north of here…”

Everyone’s voices converged.

“The Elmaria Ruins.”

“Ruins? There are ruins, right?”

“The most likely place is Elmaria.”

Rael, possessing memories from his lifetime, had told Ray and the group many stories about the Ancient Era.

One of them was Elmaria.

In the Ancient Era, it was a great city where various races lived together and culture flourished.

Of course, it was later devastated by war, and now, after long ages, it had become ruins buried in sand.

“Couldn’t it be somewhere other than Elmaria?”

“That’s possible.”

“But I think Elmaria is the most likely.”

While opinions flew back and forth, Grine said nothing.

She simply looked at the needle, stopped straight, and felt deep relief.

At least the needle had moved.

Her love was still there.

The anxious question in her heart was resolved, but at that moment, another question arose.

‘That’s true for me, but what about Caron?’

Was her husband’s love still the same?

Vroooom—!

Bid farewell by Rael, the group departed the settlement by bus, racing across the wilderness.

Clatter! Clatter!

The vehicle shook incessantly, but the compass needle didn’t budge.

“Ray! It seems we’re going the right way!”

“It’s more likely he’s at the ruins, which have a purpose for visiting, than in the empty wilderness with nothing. Veronica, stay three meters away from the steering wheel.”

“Why would Caron go to the ruins?”

“Probably to find clues about the land for planting the new World Tree Seed. Veronica, stay three meters away from the steering wheel.”

“No…!”

Veronica wanted to say something to Ray, who was driving, but she couldn’t.

After all, it was true that she had recently totaled four of Philip’s prized vehicles while practicing driving.

Since then, she had earned the glorious title of ‘Machine Destroyer’ and was under a steering wheel ban.

“But just being nearby is—”

“Three meters.”

She tried to argue, but it was useless.

With a face full of discontent she couldn’t voice, Veronica trudged back to the rear seat.

“Huh…?”

Then she saw Grine.

She was looking out the window with a blank expression.

An expression never seen on her, the epitome of elegance and serenity.

Sitting beside her, Veronica cautiously asked.

“Grine, is something wrong?”

“Ah, Veronica. Wrong? Hmm, nothing in particular.”

“You say that, but your face is full of worry.”

Grine was startled to realize what expression she was wearing.

She had been so absorbed in thoughts of Caron that she hadn’t been conscious of others’ gazes.

“Aren’t you happy on the way to meet the person you love?”

“……”

“Is there some other worry? If you tell me, maybe I can help!”

Grine could feel the warmth in Veronica’s voice.

She pondered for a moment.

There was only one current concern.

‘Is Caron’s love still the same?’

Her head thought so, but her heart couldn’t be sure.

Had his feelings for her cooled while traveling the outside world?

Perhaps the reason he volunteered to leave the Last Forest was because he was tired of life with her.

That was why.

While feeling joy and excitement, anxiety and impatience also bloomed.

Scenes of Caron making a face upon seeing her kept replaying in her mind.

‘…That can’t be.’

A sinking feeling in her chest.

Grine finally made a decision.

To seek advice from Veronica.

After all, she had met Caron when very young, grew up with him, and naturally became a couple.

In other words.

Caron was the only man she had ever met in her life, so she didn’t possess broad knowledge about love.

On the other hand, what about Veronica?

「Call me the Love Doctor. I can handle any consultation!」

‘Wisdom isn’t necessarily proportional to the length of years lived.’

Perhaps in matters of love, Veronica might be a great Seonbae in life.

Having finished her deliberation, Grine (romantic experience: 1) looked at Veronica (romantic experience: 0) and said.

“My worry. It’s precisely because of that loved one, Caron.”