Chapter 676: The Last Thing I Remember ( PS Bonus - )

Chapter 676: The Last Thing I Remember ( PS Bonus Chapter )

"Oh! I finally have an audience! Tell me, did you enjoy my performance?"

For several seconds, no one answered.

The Bone Minstrel was still sitting on the broken pillar, looking at the four humans in front of him with his empty eye sockets.

Noah was the first to break the silence.

"Wait! You mean you were the one playing that song the whole time?"

The skeleton nodded happily.

"Of course, dear sir! I hope I haven’t disturbed your rest."

Then he jumped down from the pillar and held his bone guitar with one hand.

He placed his other hand on his chest and gave such a deep bow that, for a moment, the sound of the bones in his spine clicking could be heard.

Noah opened his mouth, but apparently did not know what to say.

"Well... actually, you disturbed us a little."

"Oh! How unfortunate!"

The musician placed his bony hand on his skull.

"I must improve my performance, although I thought today’s performance was very good!"

Rindo glanced at Lian.

His spear was still in his hand, and Alicia was also ready to draw her sword if necessary.

But Lian only raised his right hand slightly.

"Don’t do anything to him for now."

The creature’s information was still in front of his eyes.

[ The Bone Minstrel ]

[ Race: The Withered ]

[ Rank: Unholy ]

[ Level: 21 ]

An Unholy-rank Withered.

Despite its level, it could not be compared to ordinary monsters.

But the creature in front of them showed no sign of preparing an attack, and it did not even care about the group’s weapons.

Instead, it was testing one of the guitar strings with its bony fingers.

He decided to talk for now.

"You’re a good musician."

The skeleton immediately raised his head.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, we’ve been hearing your music for several hours."

"Several hours?!"

The musician looked at his guitar for a moment and then said happily.

"Then I’ve been very busy today!"

"To me, it felt more like several days." Noah muttered under his breath.

Alicia gave a short smile, but her attention was still on the skeletal creature.

"Did you compose this music yourself?"

"I believe so, dear lady!"

"You believe so?"

The skeleton opened his jaw.

"To be honest, I’m not sure, when I put my fingers on the strings, they already know what to do."

He raised his guitar slightly.

"Would you like me to perform another song for you?"

"No!" Noah answered without thinking.

Then, seeing everyone looking at him, he gave a short cough.

"What I mean is... maybe later, we’re in a bit of a hurry right now."

The musician politely lowered his head.

"Ah, of course! I don’t want to waste my dear audience’s time."

The corner of Lian’s mouth rose slightly, this creature was extremely strange.

But unlike many of the Withered he had seen over the past few days, it could still speak, understand jokes to some extent, and even respect the wishes of others.

He looked at the stone path behind the skeleton.

"Are you heading toward the center too?"

The musician stopped adjusting the strings of his instrument for a moment.

"Ah, yes!"

Then he slowly tilted his bony head.

"Although, to be honest, I don’t want to go."

"Then why are you going?" Lian narrowed his eyes.

The skeleton looked at his long, thin legs, one of them was slowly being pulled toward the central path even while he was standing still.

"What a difficult question!"

He shrugged in an almost embarrassed manner.

"My legs always want to go that way, whenever I decide to turn back, after a while, I find myself walking in the same direction again."

He paused for a few moments.

"I think someone is waiting for me there."

Lian looked toward the center for a moment.

White Oblivion.

Four had previously confirmed that the creature was calling the prisoners toward itself.

Apparently, even this strange musician was not free from its influence, however, unlike the Castellan, he did not seem to know what was there, and unlike the other Withered, he did not seem very worried.

"Do you know who’s waiting for you?"

The skeleton stared at an unknown point for a while and then answered in the same cheerful tone.

"No!"

"Then why do you think someone is waiting for you?" Rindo raised an eyebrow.

"Well, there must be a reason why I want to go there so badly, right?"

The musician laughed.

Young Vorhelm said nothing, so even he doesn’t understand where this desire comes from.

He looked at the creature again.

"What do you remember about your past? Before you were imprisoned here."

The musician remained still for a moment and then placed his bony finger on his chin.

"My past?"

Several seconds passed, and the skeleton lowered his head slightly.

"To be honest... not much."

This time, his voice was a little quieter.

"I remember that I used to play music, I think I had many people listening to me too, but I don’t know where I was or who listened to my songs."

"You don’t even remember your name?" Alicia asked quietly.

The musician looked at her for a few moments and then shook his head.

"No, dear lady, I don’t remember my name, I’ve forgotten my face too, I don’t even know how many years I’ve been playing this song."

He stared at his own bony hands for a moment and then held the guitar against his body again and played a few soft notes with his fingers.

"But as long as I can still play music, I think there’s still something of me left!"

Lian looked at him for several seconds.

A creature that had even forgotten its own name could still enjoy doing something it loved.

Had music helped him keep part of his identity?

Or was it simply a skill that had remained after he lost his memories?

Lian did not know.

But he had no intention of putting pressure on a creature that had shown no hostile behavior so far just to find the answer.

Alicia also lowered her gaze for a moment.

"I hope you can get your memories back one day."

"Oh! What a beautiful wish! Thank you, kind lady." The skeleton turned toward her.

Then he gave a short bow.

"Well, I think I’d better continue my journey, I still have a long way to go!"

The musician adjusted his guitar against his chest and walked past the pillars with slow steps.

A few moments later, his familiar melody filled the field again.

Noah let out a long breath.

"Well, at least we finally found out who that damn musician was."

"I thought he was an interesting creature." Rindo laughed.

"Interesting? Rindo, we spent hours looking for him!"

But Alicia was still watching the skeleton.

"Strange..."

"What?" Lian turned toward her.

"Even though he can’t even remember his own name, he’s still so happy."

Young Vorhelm did not answer, he only watched the skeletal creature moving toward the center while playing music.

At that moment, the musician turned around one last time and waved his right hand excitedly, shouting in a cheerful tone.

"By the way! If we meet again and I don’t recognize you, please don’t be upset! I might have forgotten you too by then!"

Then he laughed and started playing again.

Lian watched his figure moving away for several seconds.

He did not know who that creature had been in the past.

But at least now he knew that even after losing their names and memories, some prisoners still had something of their personalities left.

And perhaps that was what made their fate even sadder.

The sound of the guitar slowly faded among the broken pillars.

This time, no one complained about hearing it.

———-

( Visualization )