Oblivion (A Black Clover Story)

Thirty-One

Much more time passed since the night Julius commissioned me to make a special map of the entire Kingdom for him. The night we kissed... The night of the anniversary of my parents' deaths. But after that, everything else came naturally. I found myself wanting to spend more time with him. We even started kissing each other whenever we could, or when Marx wasn't looking. Only once did he catch us. That was quite the scolding.

But amidst that, I had the time of my life making Julius' map. The special parchment I used was huge, and although I certainly had the resources available to purchase it, it was a fortune. It even took forever to be delivered to me since it was a custom-made piece of parchment as well. I also had many deliveries of all the ink I needed which was even more expensive. The last thing I needed before beginning was dad's cartography tools. He had state-of-the-art equipment, and they were the tools I was most familiar with using too. However, there was one problem. I hadn't stepped foot into my father's drawing room since the day he died.

What I managed to do was put the business on hold and refund half our commissioners their money since they only wanted my father working on their projects. That was understandable, of course. As for the others that still wanted his daughter to finish the job, I put their projects on hold until further notice. Some were okay with this arrangement due to the grim circumstances, while others were furious because they just wanted their maps. But that was business.

I sighed, clutching my satchel tightly in hand as I stood before my home. The reality was that I hadn't been home at all since my first night staying at Headquarters. But I knew I had to come back eventually. Upon opening the door, I noticed a few things were moved around, but that was only due to Marx living here too. I walked down the stairs where a door blocked my entry into the basement, the entirety of which was considered my father's drawing room. Part of me wished I had my brother here with me since he hadn't come down here at all either since that day. However I knew all too well that I had to do this on my own. After all... It was where I'd been when Marx bursted in to tell me the news when he received the report.

I took a deep breath and silently asked my father to hold my hand from the other side as I turned the knob and opened the door.

Everything was exactly as it was left. Even the scent was the same- musty old parchment from maps my dad refused to discard, stale ink, and dust. Everywhere I looked, there was something that reminded me of that exact moment. On the slanted drawing table that was three times the size of a normal one laid a half-finished map for a customer I'd refunded. Laying in the groove at the bottom was one of my father's ink pens and there was a huge black spot in the center where I'd been illustrating the text labeling a town. He had just told me right then and there and I got so distracted that I ruined the commission and dropped the tool. Laying at my feet was a long-dried, black stain on the old stone floor. I accidentally knocked over a whole bottle of ink amidst my disbelief and it splattered everywhere. Footsteps tracked all around the room from it, both from my brother and myself. They eventually ended up tracking through the rest of the house as well, but that had been long cleaned.

I took one last deep breath, walking into the surprisingly warm room. Miraculously, I found myself smiling at all the memories that surrounded me, from the moment he taught me how to write to the praise he gave me when I finished my very first- and very sloppy- map. It was like my father's spirit had been living here the whole time, waiting for me. It felt like he was cradling me even now, encouraging me to move forward both figuratively and literally. 

But as much as I found myself wanting to just sit here and reminisce, I knew I had work to do. Quickly I found my dad's box of cartography tools, and after taking the only thing that was left out, I finally gave it the care it needed after all this time. It was a shame that I was so careless. Forgive me... Dad.