Chapter 119: The Food Truck's Speed Is the Fastest on the Continent! (2) Srrr.
The sound of pages turning beneath Painfolt Artran's slender fingers echoed through the dimly lit room.
In stark contrast to the lively noise of the banquet in the plaza outside, he read in complete silence, not allowing even a single sentence to pass without careful scrutiny.
His obsession with finding his twin brother had driven him, in barely a month, to nearly perfect mastery of the centaurs' written language.
Even so, with each page he turned, the faint hope he carried gradually diminished.
"Ha…"
A sigh escaped him after reading halfway through the book.
"It's certain that he came to the Crudian Continent…"
The number of books available in Rakandra had been far fewer than expected—few enough that he could review them all within hours.
But nowhere did he find even a trace of a clue regarding his twin brother. And so he had no choice but to examine once more the very books he had already read, beneath the flickering candlelight.
"I suppose I'll have to visit the other cities as well. At this rate… I may even have to go as far as the capital."
Staring at the remaining volumes on the shelf, Painfolt ran a dry hand over his face.
"Headmaster, are you inside?"
At the familiar voice from beyond the door, Painfolt raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
Creak.
The door opened on its own, and Lee Jinseo stepped inside, placing a paper cup of freshly brewed instant mix coffee on the table.
"So this is where you were."
"Thank you."
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? I brought something light."
Jinseo set down a plate beside the cup.
Well-grilled vegetables, white rice, and bulgogi rested upon it, steam rising in an appetizing swirl.
"It's still warm. Then let's see…"
Painfolt took a bite of the well-marinated bulgogi. His brow twitched slightly before he gave a small nod.
"You truly have a talent for bringing joy to everyone through food."
He snapped his fingers again, and the door quietly shut behind Jinseo.
"That's why they're all so lively out there at the banquet."
"Is it too noisy for you while you're reading?"
"When I concentrate, it matters not what sounds reach my ears. And if one eats your cooking in silence, that would be stranger still."
"I didn't mean to disturb you."
"Why apologize? It's thanks to you winning the centaurs' goodwill that I was granted permission to freely examine their records. Had I come alone, I would not have been allowed near them."
Painfolt took a spoonful of rice, layered bulgogi atop it, and continued eating at a faster pace than usual.
Seeing how quickly he cleared his plate, Jinseo asked whether he should bring more. Painfolt declined, saying it was enough.
"It goes without saying that it's delicious since you made it, but more than that, it's tender—easy to chew and easy to eat. That's what I appreciate most."
He lifted the paper cup of mix coffee.
"It would have been better if he were here to share it. Unlike me, that boy had an enormous appetite."
"That boy… you mean—"
"The very reason I came to this continent."
At the mention of his twin brother, Jinseo fell silent.
"You may not know why my granddaughter and I ended up like this."
"I don't."
"In truth, we were not on such bad terms. Rather, we were quite close. But after her parents passed before I did… things changed. It must have been… eleven years ago."
Setting the half-finished coffee down, Painfolt began recounting what had happened eleven years prior.
Painfolt's family had consisted of five.
His son Jake and daughter-in-law Scarlett. Their daughter Fedora Artran. And Painfolt's twin brother, Rainfolt.
All lived together in the Mage Tower Painfolt owned.
Born into a family that had pursued magic for generations, Fedora naturally became a mage. With the wholehearted support of her two grandfathers and her parents, she grew up immersed in magical study.
In that warm household where every member walked the path of magic, cracks began to form after Jake and Scarlett failed to return.
Painfolt could not bring himself to explain the reason for their deaths. The agony etched across his face as he recalled that dreadful past was enough for Jinseo to quietly say that he need not continue.
"I could hardly breathe beneath the pain of losing them. But what choice did I have? I had to bury my son and daughter-in-law in my heart and continue living—for the sake of the only blood they left behind."
He stared at the closed door as he remembered his granddaughter weeping endlessly before her parents' graves.
"My brother… unlike me, he could not accept their deaths. Though praised as a genius, he blamed himself—what kind of genius fails to save his own nephew and niece-in-law?"
Rainfolt, once bright and cheerful, lost his smile. From that point on, he lived for a single goal: to bring the couple back, no matter the cost.
He traveled across the continent, researching not only magic but forbidden arts as well.
Aside from the Heirem Order—which declared resurrection impossible—he even studied the powers of other religions.
"I told him many times to give it up. Yet… I never stopped him outright. And then…"
Painfolt crushed the paper cup in his hand.
"The result was catastrophic."
A massive explosion engulfed Rainfolt and twenty grand mages.
Beneath the completely collapsed Mage Tower, not even their remains could be found.
When Painfolt rushed to the scene, he discovered only traces of a spell involving space and time. His brother was nowhere to be seen.
"I was struck by misfortune once more. Yet I forced myself to rise. I resolved that the tragedy must end there."
The families of the other mages caught in the disaster directed their fury at Painfolt. For a time, he lived in constant apology.
Even so, he never forgot his determination to protect the only family he had left.
"And then she tried to walk the same path my brother had taken. So I told her—let go of the departed. Do not cling to them any longer."
"I do not believe Granduncle is dead. You confirmed yourself what kind of spell was cast there. Somewhere… he must still be alive."
"In hindsight, perhaps that was the only choice she felt she had. Had I understood that then, I would not have driven her so harshly…"
He covered his eyes with his hand.
At the time, he had been too consumed by survival to see beyond the present. Arguments with his granddaughter grew frequent, and the rift between them deepened.
"In the end, I believed I had to stop her from following my brother's path at any cost. So I expelled her from my Mage Tower. I even blocked her from entering other towers. She left me and disappeared."
He searched the entire continent for her.
Three years later, he found her in the holy grounds of the Heirem Order—wearing the Order's robes rather than a mage's.
"Headmaster, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Fedora, the unworthy servant of that person."
"And from that day, she belonged to the Order."
The expression she wore then remained a wound in Painfolt's heart even eight years later.
"Fortunately, she let go of her obsession with my brother. Yet here I am, unable to do the same."
He gave a bitter smile, staring into the empty cup.
"My position has completely reversed from what it once was."
"The fault lies not with her. It is the result of the failures of my brother and myself."
"You must have suffered greatly."
At Jinseo's quiet comfort, Painfolt shook his head.
"Come to think of it… you too are like her…"
"Yes. My parents passed away before me."
"Ah… yes… that is…"
Painfolt hesitated several times before continuing.
"Jinseo."
"Yes."
"I lost a child. She lost her parents. The pain of losing family cannot be measured or compared—but the details differ."
Jinseo nodded.
"What I am about to say may wound you…"
"I understand. Please don't worry."
"You, who have endured the same kind of pain, may be able to understand her feelings better than I can—and offer her comfort. I entrust her to you."
"I will."
As Jinseo stood, Painfolt reopened his book, carefully reviewing each line from the very first sentence to ensure he had missed nothing.
"Hm?"
At the doorway, Jinseo abruptly opened the door and looked down the corridor.
"It was definitely closed earlier… Don't tell me…"
Recalling what had happened during last year's Holy Festival, he stared toward the far end of the hallway.
After spending one night in Rakandra, the joint human-dwarf delegation departed for the next city amid enthusiastic farewells from the citizens.
They visited three more cities, receiving welcomes as grand as Rakandra's, steadily earning the centaurs' favor.
At the center of that goodwill stood the Mobile Cooking Facility driven by Jinseo—and the bunsik and various foods it provided.
"Wow! It's unbelievably fast!"
"Up close, it's incredible!"
"It's coming! It's coming this way!"
Vroooom!
The now-annual spectacle—the Nitro Booster show of the Mobile Cooking Facility—drew waves of exclamations wherever they visited.
In the fifth city they reached on the Crudian Continent, Beraul, speed remained the supreme virtue—and once more, the Mobile Cooking Facility proved itself the embodiment of that virtue.
Screeech.
As the vehicle came to a sharp stop, young centaurs swarmed around it.
Soon, three other centaurs appeared carrying baskets filled with snacks.
"Plenty for everyone—take them slowly!"
"Hey! One at a time!"
"Hold it like this and tear it open to eat!"
Elios and the two other centaur envoys busily handed out various snacks to the children crowding around the Mobile Cooking Facility.
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