#292: *Figures of the Past (2)*
—
The floor of the ruins was so blackened and charred that it was impossible to make out its original form.
With a subtle movement, Ray stomped the ground.
*Thump—*
‘There’s empty space below.’
He also continuously sensed a faint presence.
It wasn’t a living creature.
If it were a person or an animal, its mana would have seeped up through the floor.
But the presence didn’t feel mechanical—it felt unnervingly natural, which left Ray puzzled.
*Whoosh!*
With a gust of wind, he blew away the thick layer of ash covering the floor.
What emerged was a very familiar-looking surface.
Smooth, marble-like.
White lightning bolts engraved on a black background.
‘A Cube?’
A certain radius of the floor had the same appearance as the surface of a Cube.
A cubical object made of mysterious metal, used for many purposes beyond just serving as an entrance path to Ignis.
For instance, a man Ray had once encountered in an ancient ruin had hidden inside a Cube, using it as a bunker.
A thought flashed through his mind.
‘What if…’
What if last night’s fire had started because the Doctor attacked the Scientist?
And what if the Scientist had hidden inside a Cube buried beneath the floor?
‘Then I might be able to meet the Scientist.’
Without hesitation, Ray sprang into action, drawing in every element around him.
Reinforcement, barrier, acceleration, fusion…
Mana of various colors, each holding a different element, mixed into a single point and formed a jet-black orb so dark it let no light through.
It was the Element of Destruction.
Normally, the Cube was impervious to any physical impact or magic—an object immune to destruction.
But Ray was an exception.
*Hssssss—*
The surface of the Cube began to dissolve into particles where it touched the Element of Destruction.
Just as Ray thought he saw a flicker of light from within, he instantly threw himself to the side.
*Bang—!*
A deafening gunshot.
Mana bullets whizzed right past him.
They smashed into a column behind him, shattering it completely.
*Boom!*
Then, someone burst up through the Cube’s opening, aiming a shotgun at Ray and shouting.
“You destroyed the Cube? What kind of monster bastard—! You think I’ll just go down easy, huh?! Wait— You’re not the guy from yesterday?”
The figure stammered mid-sentence.
Ray was equally surprised.
About 160 cm tall, bushy beard, skin like cracked stone.
He was a dwarf—and he looked exactly like Rael from Ray’s memories.
“LRel?”
“Rael? That bastard from yesterday said the same thing—so you’re one of his lot too, huh? Come any closer and I’ll make sure you start breathing through a part of your body you really shouldn’t.”
Ray tilted his head at the dwarf’s denial.
Not Rael?
But he looked exactly like him.
“Rael.”
“Who the hell is that?”
“You *are* Rael.”
“No I’m not. My name’s Kunta.”
First things first—Ray figured calming the agitated Rael down was the priority.
Glancing down to check his emotions, Ray noticed something completely unexpected.
‘There’s no vessel.’
There was no vessel in Rael’s chest to contain emotions.
“Where is it?”
“What?”
“The vessel.”
“Are you out of your damn mind?”
Just as Rael began to look flustered, a strong gust of wind knocked the shotgun from his hands.
*Thud!*
Watching the shotgun land far away, Rael looked dismayed.
“So that whole weird conversation was just a setup to catch me off guard…!”
“It looked dangerous. Anyway, I’m not your enemy. I have no intention of harming you.”
“And how am I supposed to believe that?”
“If I did, you’d be dead already.”
Ray’s voice was calm but chilling.
Rael suddenly realized a blade of wind had been quietly spinning around his neck the entire time.
As the wind dissipated, the tension drained from Rael’s body and he collapsed into a seated position with a deep sigh.
“Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to beat a monster who can even break through a Cube? Roast me, boil me, do what you want.”
“I don’t eat dwarves. Not that I’m even sure you’re a real one.”
“You *are* crazy, aren’t you?”
Ray walked over and sat down across from Rael.
“Rael.”
“I’m gonna lose it.”
The dwarf and the boy stared at each other with strange expressions.
Ray carefully looked Rael over, but couldn’t spot any physical oddities.
‘Did he lose his memories?’
With that in mind, Ray began telling him everything he knew about Rael.
That he was once the guardian of the yellow shard of the rainbow.
That he created a vault called Acrasium in preparation for the rainbow’s reincarnation.
That he had a close relationship with the Violet Guardian, who protected the purple shard.
After hearing all this, Rael scowled.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll say it again: I’m not Rael. I’m Kunta.”
Ray looked at him in silence, then asked:
“If you’re Kunta, then tell me about your life.”
“My life? I’m the top engineer and scientist of Dark Alley, working to destabilize the inner society by supplying weapons to the black market…”
“Not that. Before that.”
“Before that?”
“What kind of life did you live before that?”
Rael fell silent.
His expression grew hazy, and he began muttering the same words over and over.
“Before that… before that… I…”
And finally—
“Who… am I?”
*Pop!*
A spark burst from his head and he collapsed to the side.
His body went completely stiff, smoke rising faintly from it.
‘He’s not a living being.’
The side of his burned head revealed intricate machinery inside.
How was Ray supposed to make sense of this incomprehensible situation?
After thinking for a moment, he came to a conclusion.
‘I need to search Acrasium.’
Rael was clearly involved in this. And since Ray hadn’t explored the entire vault, it might hold information on the matter.
First, he needed to move the robot to a safe place.
Ray turned to the stunned goon and said,
“What are you doing? Pick him up.”
*
*
*
At Ray’s tower, the seasoned porter placed the robot—wrapped in cloth—onto the lab table as instructed.
*Thunk!*
“Huff… Huff… C-Can I go now?”
“Wait outside the tower. I might need you again.”
Watching the goon leave in tears of relief, Ray thought:
It might be convenient to hire a few regular helpers for the tower.
*Rustle!*
He pulled off the cloth, revealing the still-unmoving robot.
It looked completely non-functional due to some internal failure.
Ray took out his white card. A small light floated up and spoke:
\[Please specify a function.]
“Store me in Acrasium.”
\[Confirmed.]
*Wooooong!*
In an instant, the light expanded and swallowed Ray.
The sensation of being sucked away faded along with his consciousness, and the scene before his eyes changed.
Rows upon rows of towering metal shelves.
*Tap—*
Ray began walking, spending hours exploring the vast areas—just like a massive library.
‘This area has magical equipment, that one ores, that one money, over there spellbooks… If there’s any information, Zone 7 seems the most likely.’
Eventually, after relentless searching, Ray found what looked like one of Rael’s journals.
It was an old notebook, squeezed between thick engineering books that seemed better suited for bludgeoning than reading.
*Flip—*
**\[I am dying.]**
The ancient script was faint, but still legible.
*Flip—*
**\[It’s only natural. No one can escape death by aging.]**
**\[Unlike Redran or the Violet One, I lack the courage to offer up something precious to extend my life.]**
**\[So I lie in bed, staring at death with eyes full of regret.]**
**\[Am I afraid of dying? No. That’s not a feeling a brave dwarf can have. But it does pain me. That I never found the rainbow’s reincarnation before I died.]**
**\[That’s why. Before I die, I’ll finish my final invention.]**
**\[That invention will be me.]**
The entry ended there.
Through additional searching, Ray found a few more notebooks and pieced the situation together.
‘Rael built a robot.’
An evolution of the Absorber, the battle construct that absorbed and reflected magic.
‘Before he died, he implanted it with his personality and memories.’
So it could help the reincarnated rainbow when it returned.
The robot had lain dormant in the mage city, set to activate only when the reincarnation came within a certain range.
His denial of being Rael was likely due to a malfunction caused by the overly long dormancy.
But more important than any of that was one fact:
‘…They said the scientist appeared in Dark Alley only recently.’
In other words, the rainbow’s reincarnation had only *recently* been detected.
*Thump.*
Ray’s heart pounded with sudden excitement.
The reincarnation of the rainbow had appeared in the world. And very nearby.
What would they look like?
Were they in this city already?
What should he say when they met?
Did they know they *were* the rainbow? Did they like jerky?
As his thoughts spun in circles, Ray realized he needed to repair the robot first.
He was fully prepared.
He had found the schematics along with the journals, and every necessary part was available inside Acrasium.
However—
‘I’m not good with my hands.’
Ray was well aware that he lacked talent when it came to tasks requiring mechanical precision and delicacy.
Normally, he would’ve gone with his usual belief that a good whack could fix a machine.
But this time, he had a strong feeling that approach wouldn’t work.
And an hour later—
“A robot from the old era?”
“How fascinating. That globular construct you showed me last time, the one called Absorber, was a worthy subject of study too.”
The elders of Rael Row, whom Ray had brought over through the space passage, entered the room.
They were stunned at the sight of the robot on the lab table.
“Huh? You said it was a robot, but that’s a dwarf!”
“W-Wait, it’s not breathing. Its body’s stiff, like rigor mortis has set in.”
“Did you… kill a dwarf? I-Is that why you brought us to this sealed-off space…?”
The elders turned toward him, eyes filled with sudden fear.
Ray quickly clarified the situation.
“Look at the head.”
“Huh? The head? Wha…? Oh! It’s not an actual dwarf!”
“This level of detail… this kind of craftsmanship—is that even possible?”
“I’d bet Rael Row couldn’t make a robot of this quality even if we devoted the next few centuries solely to research.”
As the elders marveled in awe, Ray explained about Rael and the robot.
“Good heavens, Rael? You mean *the* Rael, our origin, the one from legend?”
“Rael’s avatar… I-I never imagined I’d witness such an honor in my lifetime.”
The elders didn’t even need to be asked—they were practically itching to begin repairs.
Even if it was just a robot with a copied personality, the desire to converse with the one who marked their beginning burned fiercely within them.
Receiving the blueprints and parts from Ray, the elders immediately set to work.
“This part… ohh, I see. So that’s how it functions.”
“This connector on the back of the head is the memory preservation device. Looks like it’s damaged too—let’s fix it while we’re at it.”
Exclamations of awe continued nonstop.
The metallic clicking of tools echoed again and again.
How much time had passed like that?
At last, the repaired robot’s eyes began to slowly regain their glow.
*Click—*
Amid the hopeful gazes of all present, it stepped down from the lab table.
It slowly looked around… and then its gaze locked squarely onto Ray.
Soon, Rael’s mouth opened.
“You’ve finally returned.”
