KANON

#31 - The Light of Truths

Kanon

Chapter 31

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The Light of Truths

- Shinjitsu no Hikari -

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DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW, VOTE AND COMMENT DESU~

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A/N:

From this chapter onward I'll start using "s instead of 's for spoken sentences, I noticed that what I've been doing up until now is confusing when I use shortenings, or when someone with an accent (think Madam Joan) is speaking.

So, 'hi! I'm Len.' will become "Hi! I'm Len." I'll try to change the rest of the chapters into this mode as fast as possible.

Now. On with the chapter.

" To my dear, dear Wordsmith,

By the time you read this, I know I won't be around anymore. Don't worry, I know you'll be just fine. I've seen it. The legend I told you about when we first met, is one you must never speak of again in public. It is as much of an remarkable legend, as a danger to your life. However, I will not apologize for telling you.

This legend is one you will have to use to your advantage. I know you have dreamt of entering the academy and becoming a guildmaster. I know you will be a magnificent one.

With this letter I have added the codes to the safe I hid in the basement of our shared home. In this safe you will find a starters-fund of 2000tsu. That should be enough to cover the expenses of becoming whatever you wish to be.

Furthermore, I have hidden something you will need years from now on the second floor underneath. I hope it will suffice to buy you some better clothing. You will find it in the light of truths. Give the papers you'll find to one of the members of the famous Shinto Shrine of the Foxes Family. They will need the information these records hold. But do not touch them yourself, keep them close, but don't touch them.

I will miss you.

マモル"

The day I found this letter, was 2 weeks after the house I have lived in for about 3 months burned down. By then all that was left were a few wooden pillars and a mountain of ashes halfway down the street. A hole blown in that same street's image. The safe I never found. It was taken, as I heard flowing by in the rumors, by a man clad in fancy clothing. I remember being so angry I burned the letter, and with it the last proof of Mamoru's existence.

Looking back I should've never burned that letter, even though I memorized the text, word by word. As a detective would say: evidence.

The secret hidden on the second was never found. It had collapsed mere minutes after they got me out. A secret hidden on the second floor of our home... but that was never what it said. The second floor. - that's what it said. The second floor of what?

"We... should open it up." I sigh again, raising my voice for the first time in hours. Rinka, the fourth on guard this evening, raises her head startled. After finding the leather rucksack, as it turned out to be, we decided to firstly go back to sleep. There was no immediate treath, so further investigation could wait.

"Len! Don't do that, you kid!" The lioness whispers from across the clearing. I snort, shaking my head.

"Why not? It's not like I can sleep anyway..." I mumble the last part, sitting upright against the tree I was leaning against.

"Not that! You keep surprising me." Rinka whispers, a tad too loud to be missed. I grin at her from across the clearing, though she probably can't see it anyway. "I meant that. Do not tell me you are afraid of the dark now, Rinka." She pouts.

"I'm not, but you're just like a stalker if you're able to surprise me, you kid!" She laughs, though this time quietly as to not wake the sleeping bunny beside her. "Now get over here already, I wanna see your face when you open it up." I sigh and move over quietly before sitting down next to Rinka.

The leather bag lies almost forgotten next to her. Every now and then a greenish light emits from underneath the leather. When I pull it onto my lap the buzzing starts again. "Is that an insect?" Rinka asks quietly, grabbing absent-mindedly for her sword behind her. She's far too careful for her own good. "I think so..." I trail off, plucking at the leather straps, unbuckling them one by one, but not pulling the bag itself open.

The leather is worn, smooth to touch and coloured in some places, but otherwise intact. It has held it's contends in place for a good set of years. A faint smile ghosts over my lips. He made it to last. - I realize. He never changed, always working ahead of time, planning over the course of years, but always leaving little clues, hints in words and places. I gasp quietly.

"The second floor."

Rinka turns to me and shakes her head. "What?" When I look at her she portraits her confusion by turning her head to a 45 degree angle, like a begging dog. Only, she is a lion, and not begging at all...

"I have hidden something you will need... on the second floor... underneath." I murmur, thinking over the letter's contents again. The second floor. If he meant the second floor of his house, like I thought, it was lost in the fire, but that's not what he meant... is it?

"The bastard!" I nearly yell, loud enough to wake the rest of us up in a frenzy, before I laugh, choking on my own voice. The second floor. Of the Maze. He meant the Maze. The second floor down, instead of up. Underneath.

"Mamoru..." I smile, fighting back the bitter tears. "He knew."

"He told me." Always the same. Riddles and half-truths, he would stand at the pond underneath the sole tree and talk like there where amazing things all around him. Pointing at the ponds reflection, saying things like "What you see is only the reflection, but never will the water show you what waits beneath." He was a mad man, someone who never spoke without reason, but always in clues and puzzles. A riddlemaker, now he had made me his solver. And he never changed.

Pulling the final strap back I open up the old bag with only the sound of the leather barely audible in the dark. A small light darts out buzzing harshly, angry that it was kept in the bag for so many years, but instead of paying it any attention, I look at the bag's contents. A small cloth is ripped apart by shards of what appears to have been a jar, stacked next to it sits what seems to be a book, also wrapped into the same cloth, partly hidden by a sealed up piece of white paper.

Fisting my right hand to my side I reach in with my left, picking out the letter careful not to touch any of the bag's other possessions. It is quite possible Mamoru, being who he was, is, I remind myself again, left some trap for those who are not meant to have whatever he left here.

It is indeed a sealed up letter. I sigh, contemplating wether to break the seal or not. Last time I had something to do with a wax seal... but it's different this time. I'm the one holding the letter this time, and Mamoru left this, the Count didn't.

I sigh one last time, grabbing my dagger and putting it to the seal.

"Let's see what's in here, ne?"