I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 466

"The white mage?" Lucia blinked in surprise, as if caught off guard, then echoed the question back.

Ian gave a casual shrug. "If there's anything you know beyond what you've already told me."

"I do, actually, quite a bit. There's a lot I could say. I've read several more books on the subject."

"Yeah? That's good to hear."

"But... why the sudden interest?" Still sounding a little confused, Lucia added her question cautiously—though she couldn't help but flick a glance at the back of Diana's head, just a few steps ahead.

"There might be something useful for me to know." Ian didn't bother lowering his voice.

If it were Seren, maybe he'd think twice—but with Diana, there was no reason to hide it. And in any case, she wasn't listening. Her focus was entirely on one thing: getting them out of this desert in one piece.

"If there's any place connected to that figure—ruins, artifacts, anything—tell me. If you know where they came from, or how they died, that's even better."

The reason he was asking, of course, was tied to the new quest he'd received. He'd known from the moment it appeared that it had something to do with that being.

Not that I'm surprised it ties back to lore.

Ian allowed himself a faint, dry laugh.

The cryptic line about ancient bloodlines back on the character creation screen had turned out to mean he was descended from the white mage.

Honestly, it was a convenient piece of narrative glue. It justified how he could suddenly learn new spells just by leveling up a skill—not as knowledge gained from nowhere, but as something dormant in his blood, finally awakened.

And if he was going to awaken everything that remained, there would no doubt have to be a proper trigger.

"That useful thing you mentioned... is it about... that?" Lucia's voice came softly then, barely above a whisper.

There was a subtle tremor in her eyes as she looked at him—the same look she'd had when she first realized he was trying to return to his original world.

"Maybe. Possibly." Ian didn't deny it.

It wouldn't lead him back directly. But as things stood, with his ruined character already beyond salvaging, completing this quest was essential if he was going to survive and reach the ending.

Whatever the reason, it was enough to send a storm of emotion through Lucia's eyes.

"Take your time. There's no rush," Ian added gently, sensing her hesitation. Then he turned his gaze toward the open wasteland to their left.

A vast stretch of black earth curved in long arcs across the landscape. Pale, wavering shadows danced here and there—probably clouds of dust drifting on the wind.

Maybe it's better that this isn't something I get to decide.

Lost in thought, Ian lifted his eyes to the sky.

As he scanned the slowly darkening heavens, his gaze traced the rusty red hues spreading across the clouds.

"There are still a lot of conflicting theories about the white mage's origins, life, and death. They were undoubtedly real, but most records are missing, contradictory, or vague." Lucia's voice picked back up, calm again—her composure restored.

As Ian met her gaze, she lifted a hand to the mask covering her mouth and nose and continued. "There's really no helping it. The history of magic is incredibly old—and there have been multiple wars intense enough to wipe out entire archives. Not to mention, the people who recorded those histories weren't exactly reliable."

"So no one knows what's true," Ian replied casually. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

Lucia removed her mask and took a deep breath, as though finally relieved of the weight on her face.

She nodded. "Maybe none of it's true. Or maybe bits and pieces are. Either way, I'll tell you everything I know."

"Looks like this walk won't be boring, at least." Ian shrugged.

Lucia tucked her mask away and began. "The most mainstream theory is that he was a war orphan from the continent. An ancestor of the Imperial line, in a way. The story goes he started out running errands for a mage, traveled across the land, met all sorts of people from different races, and learned magic along the way."

She tilted her head slightly, then added, "Most legends and stories are based on that theory. It's what I originally learned too."

"A young boy's magical adventure, huh?" Ian scoffed lightly.

Lucia smiled in agreement. "Everyone believes it, but I think it's the least credible. It's just... too much like a fairy tale."

"Lost your childlike wonder, have you, Lucy?"

"Maybe I have. But come on—ancient fairies and dragons handing out spells and theory just because he asked? That's a bit too much."

"So? What's next?"

"There's a theory that he was from the old swamp-forest region of the ancient fairies—what we now call the borderlands. That's why he was supposedly close to the fairies."

"You only know half the story, Lucifer." The low voice cut in ahead of them.

Both Ian and Lucia turned their heads toward it at once.

Diana, catching their gaze, narrowed her eyes behind her mask. "What? Did you think I wasn't interested in history?"

"I just didn't realize you were listening," Lucia added.

Diana let out a short, dry laugh. "It's hard not to listen when you're talking that much. Especially when it involves the fairies."

"So, what's the other half Lucy doesn't know?" Ian asked.

Diana glanced briefly at him before replying. "He wasn't just from the borderlands. The white mage had fairy blood in him."

"A half-blood?" The words were enough to draw a faint scowl on Ian's face.

He was supposed to be a descendant of the white mage. If what she said was true, then somewhere in his veins ran the blood of pointy ears.

Diana nodded. "That's right. And like Lucifer said, that's the only way any of it makes sense. Human civilization back then was primitive, to say the least. Really, humans only developed proper civilization fairly recently—at least from a fairy's point of view."

"But it's generally accepted that human civilization developed in an organized way even in ancient times," Lucia interjected calmly. "It just didn't look the same as it does now."

Diana snorted. "Of course that's what they claim. How else would they justify building their entire civilization on stolen ideas from other races? But at least in the fairies' records, that's how it's written."

"And the part about the white mage being half-blooded?" Ian asked flatly, one eye still slightly narrowed.

Diana hesitated for just a beat before looking away. "They only left behind poetic hints—things like pale skin, or a certain noble bearing in his speech and mannerisms."

"Even without that, there's enough to go on. The ancient fairies had already established a highly advanced civilization back then. Apart from the dragons, no race understood magic better." Diana glanced up at Lucia with deliberate emphasis, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.

"The knowledge they passed down became the foundation for the great unification the white mage achieved. Even humans can't deny that."

"Well, you're not wrong," Lucia replied quietly, pressing her lips together.

Ian nodded, then looked straight at Diana. "Still, I don't think he was a half-blood."

He was supposedly a descendant of the white mage—yet there wasn't a single trait in his body that even hinted at fairy lineage.

"And why are you so sure?" Diana's brow furrowed slightly. It was understandable, since she had no way of knowing his reasons. "The place he chose for his final retreat was the Fairy Forest. That was him returning home. It's clearly recorded."

"There's no confirmation he actually died there," Lucia added quietly.

Diana turned to look at her, and Lucia simply shrugged. "The fairies don't have many records from that time either. The old Fairy Forest has long since become a cursed place no one dares to enter."

"Which is exactly why the legend says the curse came from the white mage's research."

"If we're going that route, then he's also considered the ancestor of the Imperial bloodline, Diana."

No wonder scholars couldn't agree on anything.

Ian gave a silent scoff. Still, the theory that the white mage had spent his final years in the Fairy Forest wasn't entirely implausible.

Didn't everything begin in the swamplands? If that's where the dormant bloodline first awakened...

It all fit surprisingly well. Of course, that also meant going back into that cursed swamp filled with deranged bog-fairies and man-eating plants. The idea made his stomach turn, but if he wanted answers, there was no other way.

"So what theory do you think is the closest to the truth, Lucifer?" Diana asked in a disgruntled tone.

Lucia answered right away. "The theory that he was a descendant of dragons."

"You don't believe in the fairy blood theory, but you believe he was related to dragons?" Diana frowned.

Lucia nodded without hesitation. "There are actual records of dragons and humans getting married. They're not common, but they exist. It would explain how the white mage could interact with dragons as equals. The same goes for fairies, too."

"Or he could've had fairy blood. Fairies and dragons had a close bond," Diana pressed, still visibly attached to the half-blood idea.

Lucia nodded again. "True. That's a valid interpretation too. Ancient fairies were said to be the most devoted followers of the Heaven Defier."

"What? No, that's—that's not right!" Eyes wide, Diana turned to face Lucia directly. "That was a sacrifice! They did it for the sake of the other races! They betrayed him at the crucial moment, on purpose! Even your human records clearly state—"

Ian let her impassioned protest drift past one ear as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah. I should ask that one about this."

That one, of course, was the Platinum Dragon.

Younger than the Heaven Defier, but still, it was a dragon that had lived for an unimaginably long time. It was more than likely it had existed in the same era as the white mage. Being one of the dragons that exchanged knowledge with him wouldn't be surprising in the least. And even if it hadn't, surely it had heard the stories.

"Any other theories?" Ian asked eventually.

Lucia, who had just broken off her back-and-forth with Diana, turned to him. "As far as credible theories about his origin go... that's pretty much it. The rest are things like: he came from another world, or he was a human personally crafted by a god."

"Then let's move on to how he spent his final years."

Ian was tempted to dig into the other world part, but he held back. In the end, what the white mage did in his final days might matter even more than where he came from. Carving his knowledge and memories into his bloodline—that kind of decision seemed like something only someone at the very end of their road would make.

"The Order teaches that the gods cast his soul into the Void. That he paid the price for his boundless greed for power and knowledge."

"The kind of story the Great Church would love," Diana muttered with a sneer.

Ian simply nodded. Even in the game, priest NPCs often rattled off similar lines. He'd never heard them once since this world became real, but that was likely because no one knew he was a mage.

"Like Diana said, some claim he entered the Fairy Forest for his final research, while others say he went into a dragon's nest. What they all agree on is—he never came back."

"Any idea what kind of research he was doing?"

"No, not exactly. Some claim he was trying to create a spell powerful enough to rewrite the laws of the world. Others say he was after immortality."

"Either way, it sounds like something a spellcaster would go for," Ian muttered with a dry laugh, though part of him was still quietly thinking that maybe the white mage had been trying to seal all his memories and knowledge into his blood.

"And then there's one more theory—" Lucia continued, but her voice trailed off abruptly. The Black Lion, who was slumped across the saddle in front of her, moved.

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