I descended using the woodsteel as stairs. Step by step, the twenty blades of steel naturally took turns becoming footholds.
At first, Sophien on my back bothered me, but I soon accepted it.
The name of this passenger was “Sophien Yekater Augus von Ziphrain.” She was none other than royalty. For a bloodline so noble, offering my back was only fitting…
It was thanks to forcing myself to think such things.
“…”
Sophien had said nothing for a while now. She was probably deep in thought in her own way.
“…The temperature.”
Just then, Sophien muttered. She pressed herself a little closer against my back.
“Are you all right?”
“…It is tolerable.”
Sophien’s potential was the strongest and greatest in the human world, but for now, she was still nothing more than a chrysalis. Judging from her characteristic ennui and indolence, her blooming was still far off. Besides, all she had consumed in this snow globe was ice cream and water.
“This is because Your Majesty has been negligent in training until now.”
“…”
“If you had diligently practiced and tempered your mana, mere cold would not—”
“I said I understand, so shut that mouth.”
“…Keiron.”
Instead of Sophien, I called for Keiron. Keiron was following behind, guarding Sophien’s back.
“Are you all right?”
The snowflower stone could only cover one person, Sophien. Keiron had no choice but to endure on his own.
“I am fine.”
Keiron answered so.
I believed him as well.
“Do not fall behind. Follow us.”
“…אח בשבילך.”
At that moment, Sophien recited a word of power. Her syllables became warm fire and clung to Keiron.
“Your Majesty.”
“I shall not permit you to fall behind.”
At the Emperor’s command, Keiron merely nodded. A rare smile touched his lips.
* * *
Tick—tock—
The second hand rang out regularly in the quiet inn. The sound of manuscript paper turning.
Epherene read Sylvia’s novel, and Sylvia watched Epherene.
Idnik, Gindalf, and Roserio also watched the two with faces that seemed rather intrigued.
Gulp—
Sylvia was nervous in her own way.
She had pretended not to want to show it, but in the first place, it was something she had written to be shown.
“…”
Sylvia’s only two hobbies were writing and painting. Among them, this novel was the one she had been putting special effort into lately.
Working title: Blue Eyes.
She scrutinized each and every one of Epherene’s expressions.
“…”
At some point, Epherene lifted her head.
Had she finished reading? Or was it not interesting?
As Sylvia waited for her impression with sweaty palms, the girl said,
“Sylvia. You’re good at writing, huh?”
“…”
It was praise. Her pulse surged for the first time in quite a while, but she forced herself to remain calm. Sylvia looked at Epherene with a stiff face.
The girl fidgeted with the manuscript paper and grinned.
“This is fun. Is there a next part?”
“I haven’t finished it yet.”
“Oh~ really? It’s all mysterious and stuff. I want to see the next chapter already.”
Sylvia deliberately tucked in her chin. She tried not to show any expression.
“Then are you going to publish this?”
To that question, she only nodded. Epherene’s eyes widened in admiration.
“Wow~ I’ll definitely buy it and read it later too.”
“…Do as you like.”
“Now!”
At that moment, Gindalf stepped forward. Epherene turned to look at him.
Gindalf chuckled and said,
“If your impressions are finished, let us begin in earnest. Carla?”
At that, Carla and Jackal turned to look this way. Epherene was slightly surprised.
Had they been pretending not to notice this whole time?
“Sorry for the late start. I ask that you train this one.”
“…It seems there are only four times.”
“Indeed.”
Carla nodded and placed a hand on her robe. Then she drew back the hood at an angle, revealing her eyes. They were Magic Eyes glowing red.
The moment Epherene looked into those eyes.
Her consciousness sank into the abyss.
Without uttering a single word, she truly fainted with a thud.
“…”
Sylvia looked at Epherene, sprawled out carelessly, as if dumbfounded. She simply called over a passing employee and ordered something from the menu.
And then, three minutes later.
“Gyaaah!”
Epherene woke up.
“Whoa! Whoa, what was that?! I almost died!”
Then she seized Gindalf by the collar in a fit. Gindalf laughed heartily, and Epherene hesitantly lowered her trembling hands.
“How was it?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I was just so startled. But what, what was that? It was really—”
“Mental training. I went out of my way to beg Carla for it. You have exactly four chances.”
“I have to do that three more times…?”
Epherene placed a hand over her heart. Thump, thump, thump, thump—it was surging as if it might burst.
“Epherene, your mental strength ain’t bad. It just doesn’t have a system yet.”
At that moment, Roserio spoke.
“The easiest way to form a system is to build yourself a ‘mental protector’ inside your head.”
“A system?”
“Right. Picture the most reliable being in your mind. It doesn’t have to be human. It could be a doe, or a lion, or even a dragon, doesn’t matter. If you make it just once like that, that guy will fight for you.”
Epherene listened blankly, then soon nodded.
A mental protector.
Right now, at this very moment, there was only one person who came to mind.
“Yes. I’ll try.”
“Speaking of which, hey, Sylvia. Do you want to try too?”
At Roserio’s question, Sylvia shook her head.
“I have enough already.”
“…Is that so? Well then. Carla?”
“Ah, but wait, I’m not ready ye—”
Epherene was concentrating when she flinched and waved her hands. Carla, however, did not stop.
“Mm.”
“Ggk—!”
“…”
Carla nodded and glared at Epherene again, and Epherene once more plunged into the depths of the abyss, while Sylvia received the food she had ordered.
“Mana Stone Roast Chicken.”
The dish was Mana Stone Roast Chicken.
Chicken fried with magic stone powder, a terrible food no different from a slightly soft rock, but it did not matter at all to her, who had no sense of taste.
Rather, it could be called the finest food. After all, dietary therapy was also important if one wished to become an archmage.
“…But you’re eating that?”
Roserio looked at Sylvia with a taken-aback expression.
“Don’t. No matter how important magic is, that kind of food ain’t fit for humans.”
“Please don’t mind it.”
Sylvia replied a little coldly. Roserio was flustered by how different she was from when they had met on the Floating Island before, and Idnik gave a bitter smile.
“Kkbeureubureugebeurukbereerereek—!”
Epherene woke up with a strange, bizarre scream.
Jingle—
Just then, the inn door opened, and the newly arrived guest flinched and looked toward the source of the sudden shriek.
“Huh? What the. Epherene? Elder Gindalf too?”
Yeriel of Yukline.
She looked around at the famous mages gathered around Epherene and tilted her head.
* * *
Deculein advanced, feeling his way through the darkness. Sophien thought countless thoughts upon his back. She analyzed the convection of mana and grasped the difference in time.
The cause of the time difference was this underground. A massive wave of mana was flowing from below to above.
“…I do not know.”
Her understanding of the phenomenon itself was certain. Sophien’s insight was always precise.
However, the question remained.
She had always wondered.
“Why do you…”
To her, the value of death was endlessly light.
Yet Deculein—more precisely, Deculein of the previous turn—had said to her:
—From now on… no matter what happens, do not take your own life.
She understood Keiron’s loyalty, but she still could not understand Deculein’s intention. He had died without explaining the meaning of that sentence to her.
“Deculein, why do you not allow me to die?”
“…”
“My memory is intuitive. Even if I return to the past, I am confident that I can assemble all those events correctly.”
Step, step.
Deculein moved his legs. Frustrated by his silence, Sophien struck his back with her fist.
An answer came out like from a vending machine.
“Your Majesty. Do you know why the giants vanished?”
It was some tale from the classics.
Sophien answered unconsciously. Nearly all the history of the continent was in her head.
“Because they lacked death…”
With that, she understood Deculein’s implication. Sophien glared at his broad back with rather resentful eyes.
“Yes. Humans possess a process called challenge. And the driving force behind challenge is the end called death. Without death, humans become empty. Does Your Majesty not know this better than anyone?”
“…Hmph. Do you think death that never existed will suddenly appear because you say so? I may kill myself without you knowing.”
“In that case, I shall make a vow.”
“What?”
Deculein suddenly spoke of a vow. Sophien was startled, which was rare.
Having spent more than a hundred years with Deculein, she knew.
To him, a vow meant eternity.
No, it meant something beyond that.
A vow from this stubborn man would surely remain constant even if the timeline changed.
“I do not know what meaning I hold for Your Majesty. I may merely be an ordinary subject, an annoying instructor of magic, or the head of the house of Yukline.”
Sophien looked at the back of Deculein’s head.
She wondered what expression this professor wore, what face he had, but she could not see it.
“However, if Your Majesty ignores my will and takes your own life…”
“Deculein. Shut that mouth.”
Sophien felt she knew what he would say next.
As expected, Deculein uttered the words she had anticipated.
“I shall do the same.”
“…Insolent. You do not know the moment of regression.”
“Do you think I would not know? I may know Your Majesty even better than Your Majesty knows yourself.”
At that moment, Deculein reached the ground. They had finally arrived at the bottom of this cliff.
However, Deculein was still carrying Sophien on his back, and Sophien was displeased by what Deculein had just said.
He knows me better than I know myself? What a statement close to treason…
“Deculein. I entrust His Majesty to you.”
In that instant, a voice approached from behind. Sophien turned that way.
Keiron’s entire body had already frozen over.
“Your Majesty. This subject will follow before it is too late.”
“…Keiron.”
“You know, do you not? I do not die. Perhaps this very moment may be an important opportunity for me. Until now, I have been stagnant…”
With those words as his last, Keiron became a statue of ice. Wrapped in extreme cold, he froze solid.
“…Come before it is too late.”
Deculein did not look back at him. Sophien believed his words as well.
The two simply advanced.
Believing in the destination not far ahead, they pushed through this cold darkness.
And reached the end of the bitter cold.
—…I knew you would return.
A voice that delivered a small shock to Sophien.
That majestic vibration announced their arrival.
“…”
Sophien looked up at him. His eyes were as large as lakes. Those eyes reflected Sophien.
It was a giant.
—The passage is here.
The giant’s mana constructed a passage. It was an oval portal.
—Children, hurry and go.
Deculein entered it. He had no strength left to exchange words with the giant.
Wiiiiing—
A small wave of mana, a dazzling cluster of light staining the retina.
After that, the place they returned to was Sophien’s bedchamber.
“…”
The snow globe was placed on the table, and Sophien was still being carried on Deculein’s back. Deculein perceived the [ Quest Clear ] notification floating in the air.
“…Deculein.”
“Please keep this snow globe with you. Wait for Sir Keiron, who will come out on his own.”
Sophien looked at the snow globe. For some reason, she felt wretched.
…Wretchedness.
It was an emotion she had not felt in quite some time.
“Your Majesty. There is no perfect human in this world. And because Your Majesty has no death, you are instead more incomplete than any human.”
“…”
Deculein laid Sophien down on the bed. Her frozen body did not move properly.
“The first step is to acknowledge that fact. To acknowledge deficiency, and accept loss.”
“······.”
“Your Majesty is human. The same as us.”
After saying that, he even pulled the blanket over her. With only her face peeking out, Sophien looked at Deculein through narrowed eyes.
“I shall take my leave now.”
“······Will you be all right without resting?”
“Yes.”
Deculein nodded and turned around.
As he was about to leave, Sophien added one more thing.
“Professor.”
“Yes.”
“I know nothing of human relationships.”
“As Your Majesty is the sovereign, that is only natural. I understand.”
“Do you, by any chance, love me?”
“······.”
Deculein did not answer. Sophien found the silence awkward. And so she quickly corrected herself.
“If not, then never mind.”
“Yes.”
Deculein left like that, but Sophien, for some reason, felt suspicious.
However, she soon erased the thought and glared at the snow globe.
“······Chiron.”
Inside that was the most loyal knight in this world.
He had said he would come out on his own, and Sophien believed his words.
“I will be waiting.”
* * *
Through the funeral, through the service and the burial of the coffin, and until the fallen was reported to the Hall of Knights······ Deculein did not show himself.
“He is truly cold and cruel. The Professor, I mean.”
“Now, now. He did come and go. It’s just······.”
“Showing his face is a matter of Yukline’s dignity.”
Several knights of Freynheim seethed with anger toward Deculein. It was because Veron’s official cause of death was, “falling to his death along with an assassin while guarding Deculein.”
After learning the truth about Veron, every day for Yulie was hell. Every single day was a mire.
“······.”
Yulie had not said a word all this time. She did not respond to anything the knights said.
“Still, well. They said he fought alongside him. That should be enough. Veron would want that too.”
But that very moment was the breaking point.
Clenching her teeth until they nearly ground together, she left her subordinate knights behind and got into the car. The moment she inserted the key, she seized the steering wheel.
“Ah! Captain! Where are you going!”
“Captain!”
Vroooooom──!
The old car surged forward, roaring like a beast.
Driving that aged, nearly broken beloved steed herself, she arrived at the Yukline mansion.
“······Where is the Professor right now?”
Yulie asked the guard at the firmly shut front door. The guard did not answer.
“Where is he?”
Even after asking several times, nothing changed. Yulie nodded as if she understood. Then she stood beside that guard.
“······.”
She intended to wait there blindly.
Until Deculein came.