Snow falls even on the Floating Island.
It is a magical phenomenon artificially reproduced by mages. If they did not do even this, there would be many addicts who knew nothing of the passage of years and the changing of seasons.
Crunch— crunch—
The city streets of the Floating Island. Sylvia stepped through the snowfield as she waited for Idnik.
Crunch— crunch—
She deliberately crushed it underfoot to make a sound.
Jingle—!
Just then, the door of the magic shop opened with the sound of a bell. Idnik, who had told her to wait a moment, had come out.
With some sort of backpack slung over her shoulder, she handed Sylvia a newspaper.
“Sylvia. Read this.”
Sylvia accepted the newspaper in silence. Her expressionless pupils skimmed the words on the page. Deculein and Julie were in the headline.
“They say the annulment is underway, but there are all sorts of strange rumors besides that. Rumors that Deculein killed both Veron and Rockfell……”
“No.”
Sylvia shook her head. Then she pointed at Julie in the newspaper.
“This woman is stupid.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“…….”
Sylvia knew. What Veron had done to Deculein. What had happened between the two of them.
And also, just how much Deculein loved Julie.
And yet this foolish woman knew none of that, knew nothing at all……
“Forget it.”
At Sylvia’s blunt reply, Idnik shrugged.
“Is that so? Anyway, the preparations are done.”
“Yeah. But—”
“Here it is, you little brat. The thing you asked for.”
Idnik held out a pebble to Sylvia.
A pebble called “Deculein’s Test.” The moment the Imperial Mage Tower distributed it on the Floating Island, it had become an enormous trend.
One could tell just by looking around right now.
Pebbles clutched in the hands of nearly every mage walking along the sidewalk. Pebbles set atop tables in cafés and restaurants. Mages glaring at pebbles before collapsing with a flop.
“Tsk. Good grief. That bastard sure knows how to start a trend.”
At Idnik’s words, Sylvia stared intently at the pebble. Merely gazing at it with mana imbued in her eyes made it move with a clack.
“Oh, and. Did you know that Deculein privately published a treatise?”
Sylvia raised her head.
“A treatise.”
“Yeah. Apparently that’s causing another commotion these days. It was privately published, so it hasn’t gone out on the market. And knowing Deculein’s personality, he probably won’t sell it either. There’s a rumor that the Floating Island’s library has tightened security.”
“……Tightened security.”
“They’ve got five copies there or so. As a joke—no, seriously—it seems there are mages considering robbing that library.”
“…….”
Sylvia bit her lip expressionlessly.
The mage Deculein was establishing achievements on the Floating Island. Deculein’s theories were now treated as orthodox on the Floating Island.
“Sylvie. Aren’t you curious too?”
Sylvia silently looked up at Idnik. After pondering quietly for a long while, she opened her mouth.
“I might be able to borrow it.”
“Borrow what?”
“Deculein’s theory book.”
“Hmm?”
Sylvia immediately turned and ran toward the library. Her sprint, aided by magic, was so swift it left afterimages behind.
Before long, she arrived on the tenth floor of the Floating Island’s Megiseion.
The gathering place of all the books in the world—Pentamol. Sylvia approached the “library addict” at the information desk.
“You’ve come. Esprit Sylvia.”
As if he had been waiting, he nodded. Then he handed her a book sealed over two and three times.
「Yukline Theory Book: Essence」
“Please read it carefully. It is classified as a second-grade book. Also, this is a note Monarch Deculein left for Esprit Sylvia.”
Sylvia received one more small piece of paper.
A short sentence was written there in Deculein’s elegant handwriting.
[I look forward to the day you kill me, Sylvia.]
* * *
A snowstorm spreads beyond the train window. The raging blade-like wind scatters pure-white powder in all directions, but the inside of the carriage is warm and cozy.
“Look here. That’s why you should’ve learned theory a little more diligently.”
“……It has to be moderately difficult for me to learn it.”
Drent teaching Epherene. Allen quietly playing cat’s cradle. The occasional chugging sound of the engine.
This sort of peaceful atmosphere was not bad.
Not for me, nor for Epherene, nor for Allen. Because we knew this tranquility would not last long.
“Professor. What book are you reading?”
Allen asked then. I silently showed him the cover.
「The Composite Properties of Dual-Series Magic Circuits and the Dynamic Relationship of Mana for Proper Manipulation」
“……Hehe.”
Allen laughed like an idiot, then held out a bundle of fluff.
It was a scarf.
“Here…… I thought your neck might be a little cold.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Ah…… yes.”
Allen lowered his head, looking a little disappointed. I added a word.
“Let’s say I gave it to you as a gift. I do not get cold, so you wear it.”
“Ah…… yes…….”
Screeeeeech——
Just in time, with the sound of metal scraping, the train began to slow. The three assistants hurriedly stood and gathered their luggage.
—Knock, knock. We have arrived, Professor Deculein.
The attendant said as he knocked. We all went out of the train together.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
“I-It really is……”
Mazar Station in the North. The moment Epherene and Allen stepped onto the empty platform, they wrapped their arms around their own shoulders.
I looked around.
It was a desolate scene. Not a single person was there, and the snowcapped mountains in the distance were faint, as if veiled in mist.
“There are no people.”
“As winter is nearly upon us, everyone seems to be refraining from going outside.”
The conductor answered.
I spoke to the three, who were muttering, Brrr, it’s cold—so cold—ah, why is it this cold?
“Let’s go.”
“……Yes.”
Outside the platform, four horses had been prepared.
Neeeigh—! Seeing the snorting horses, Epherene and Allen swallowed. Those two suffered from an affliction known as “horse sickness”……
* * *
With Allen on Drent’s back and Epherene on mine, we arrived at our destination. The northern fortress, Rizenthal.
“You may stay here. We also call it a small Mage Tower, but I’m embarrassed to introduce it that way to a professor from the Imperial Mage Tower. It is quite some distance from the parade ground, so you should be able to stay comfortably.”
The officer guiding us said. In truth, it was cylindrical like a small Mage Tower and had five floors. Considering this was the North, it could be called a fairly tall building.
“Understood.”
“Yes. For now, please rest comfortably from your journey. The assistants as well.”
Once the officer left, Epherene, Allen, and Drent quickly claimed their rooms first. Epherene was the first to smile brightly.
“I’m here! This is my room!”
“What? If you’re the youngest, use the smallest room.”
“What are you saying? Don’t you know meritocracy? The assistant professor gets the biggest room, then me……”
Leaving them on the first floor, I went upstairs.
Indeed, as if mages often came here on business, the facilities were solid. The third floor was a laboratory equipped with various tools, the fourth floor was a bookroom containing northern texts, and the fifth floor was a space suitable for me to stay.
However.
“Greetings.”
There was an unexpected uninvited guest.
“My husband…… or perhaps not anymore?”
A coquettish voice. A gently lingering smile.
Yusepin.
I looked back at her.
“What is it?”
“Ah. It’s nothing much. I merely…… came to give you a bit of a warning.”
Yusepin smiled brightly. I asked back briefly.
“A warning.”
“That’s right. Ah, I don’t mean it aggressively. It’s just that here in the North, omens of a mana phenomenon have been detected.”
Yusepin handed me several photographic images.
Red lightning. A shimmering aurora. A comet falling and moving in reverse.
“All of this has happened since two days ago.”
In particular, the comet, as if defying time, repeatedly fell and then soared again, soared and then fell once more, before twisting space and vanishing.
It was a sudden event.
“……I don’t know. Professor Deculein, you’ll overcome anything, but. The chicks downstairs, who react sensitively to mana, might get caught up in it at least once.”
I nodded.
“I will receive the information in detail. So—”
“Julie is doing well. Still resenting you, still hating you.”
“…….”
A smile appeared at the corners of Yusepin’s mouth. Yet at the same time, she looked at me with hardened eyes.
“Her health truly is improving. Julie is overcoming it herself.”
“That is fortunate.”
Yusepin rested her chin on her hand. In that state, she tilted her head slightly.
“It’s strange, my husband. To think it would really turn out as you said……”
“Didn’t I tell you? I do not lie.”
“Huhu. That is truly so~”
Chuckling playfully like a noble young lady, she looked back at me.
“Was this…… what you wanted?”
“…….”
I silently met her eyes.
Pure-white irises that shimmered like transparent fragments. Eyes that resembled Julie’s.
“I merely wished for Julie to live on.”
At those words, Yusepin let out a deep breath. Then, as if smiling faintly, she murmured a single sentence.
“You love Julie as much as I do.”
[Villain’s Fate: Death Variable Eliminated]
◆ Shop Currency +2
Death Variable Eliminated.
It was a sentence I had never seen before.
Perhaps it meant that Yusepin’s murderous intent had completely disappeared. Perhaps it meant that this suspicious sociopath had finally come to trust me.
“Then I shall take my leave now. But anytime, if anything happens, please contact me~”
Yusepin placed a crystal orb on the table. Then she faded away like a shadow.
“…….”
I sat across from where she had been and looked out the window.
Like flower petals, sleet was fluttering down.
* * *
The next day.
Epherene woke from sleep in the early dawn. It was dark outside the window, but strangely, her body felt refreshed. Mana was overflowing throughout her entire body.
“What is this?”
Whooooo……
A fireball coalesced in her palm. It was the simplest magic for telling a mage’s condition that day, yet today its density and power were particularly impressive.
“……Leaf, what are you doing?”
At that moment, Drent appeared with a face full of sleep. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Epherene.
“Ah, Drent. I’m weirdly full of energy today.”
“……I see.”
“Oh, right. We said we’d provide civilian support, didn’t we?”
“……We did.”
Haaaaaah— Drent yawned as he went into the bathroom, and Epherene rolled up her sleeves.
“I’ll put this overflowing vitality to good use!”
Shouting cheerfully, she went straight outside and began civilian support.
First, her first destination.
A village near the fortress.
“Oh my, what brings an esteemed mage to such a shabby place……”
“Is there anything I can help with?!”
“The barricade has collapsed a little, but……”
“I’ll help you! Where is it?!”
“……Pardon? Ah, yes…… I’ll guide you.”
Epherene restored the barricade, which had collapsed due to a monster invasion, in an instant.
She also sharpened the vigilantes’ weapons and the herbalists’ tools until they were like new, and cut down dozens of trees to provide firewood for enduring the winter.
“Little kid. How old are you?”
“I’m ten. I’m not a little kid.”
“Hehe. Is that so?”
She patted the head of the cute-looking boy.
He was short and looked terribly young, but apparently he was a rather capable herbalist or something.
“What’s your name?”
“Jupan.”
“Mm, Jupan. Then keep gathering herbs diligently from now on~”
“Yes.”
Jupan nodded stiffly and immediately entered the forest. Epherene watched him go, then placed her hands on her hips.
“Now~ everyone!”
She spoke to the residents who had gathered around before she knew it.
“Is there anything else?”
“No, it’s all right now. Yesterday, a shooting star fell in that forest—”
“No worries! Ah, right. There were lots of weeds over there that could be used as livestock feed. I’ll grind them all up for you!”
Epherene moved her legs energetically.
She strode into the forest, about to clear away a heap of weeds, at that very moment.
“Hm?”
She discovered a mysterious pond.
A pond that seemed to be hollowed deep in the middle of the thicket. Its surface sparkled like stars, and vivid mana bubbled up from it.
Epherene approached with a tilt of her head.
“What is this……”
She gazed blankly into the pond.
Reflected on its surface was her own face, Epherene’s. A face that had been growing prettier as time passed lately…… Ahem!
In any case, the color and light of this pond were so beautiful that she unconsciously reached out her hand.
……Tap.
The hand inside the pond and the hand outside the pond touched. Crackle—! Electricity sparked.
It was a stinging pain.
“Ugh!”
Startled, Epherene quickly pulled her arm back. She fiddled with her fingers and looked at the pond.
“What are you?”
Should I ask the professor about it? This pond itself might be a magical phenomenon.
Thinking that, Epherene turned around and retraced the path she had come by.
“……?”
But something was strange. She realized it almost as soon as she started walking.
……The road was different.
The path she had just been walking on was not the path she had just come from. For one thing, compared to ten minutes ago, the snow had piled up much higher, and the weather was far colder.
She didn’t know how else to describe it, but in any case—
It was bizarre.
“What is this now…… Oh! Excuse me!”
Just then, she spotted a young man passing by.
Epherene quickly waved at him. The man, who looked like an herb gatherer, seemed to notice her and came trudging over.
“Yes. What is it?”
“Did something happen in the village just now?”
“Something happen?”
The man asked back.
“Yes, yes.”
Epherene kept nodding, but when she saw the man’s face, her eyes went round.
“Huh?”
“What’s the matter?”
“Don’t tell me…….”
A man. A face that looked like a young man’s. A height that had shot up well past Epherene’s.
And yet the baby fat still lingering on his youthful face was unmistakably that of the boy she had seen just fifteen minutes ago……
“Are you Jupan?”
“Mm? How do you know my name…… Ah~”
The young man seemed to recognize Epherene belatedly as well. He spoke with a blunt expression.
“The mage I saw before. You haven’t aged at all.”
“What do you mean, I haven’t aged…….”
“Mm. No wonder. That professor came too.”
“Professor?”
“Yes. The professor who came with you last time, mage.”
“Where?!”
Epherene asked loudly. Jupan leaned his body far back, then answered in a reluctant tone.
“He is waiting at the village hall, but…….”
Epherene ran in the direction Jupan pointed.
Tatadadadadada—
A full sprint that tore through the snow-covered road.
At last, Epherene reached the village, and in that moment she was, without question, “the most astonished person in the world.”
“What the…….”
The village was no longer the village.
The humble hamlet from just a moment ago had somehow gained a bustling marketplace, and merchants and residents dressed in fur clothing were haggling with one another.
“What is this?”
Epherene walked forward, trudging along. For some reason, her courage had shrunk to the size of a bean, and she clasped both hands to her chest.
The village hall Jupan had mentioned was not far away.
“……There it is.”
The village hall. When she had seen it early this very morning, it had been no bigger than a pit-house. Now, all of a sudden, it had grown huge.
Bewildered by the incomprehensible situation, Epherene first grabbed the door handle of the hall.
Gulp—
She swallowed the saliva that had gathered from nervousness.
Then slowly opened the door.
Creeeeak──
Through the roughly opening gap, she saw a person wrapped in a black robe. He was sitting in a chair, reading a book.
A lamp shone on him, and Epherene……
“……Professor?”
At that, he turned to look at her. With only the face revealed beneath the hood of his robe, Epherene knew who he was.
Deculein.
With a stiff expression, he rolled up his sleeve. Tapping his wristwatch, he said,
“You should have stated the exact time, Epherene.”
“Pardon? What do you mean……”
“Six-oh-five.”
Deculein pulled back the hood of his robe. As always, he was neat and impeccably composed, but—
“You are five minutes late. When you return, say not six o’clock sharp, but six-oh-five.”
“……?”
The things he was saying today, at least, were strange.
Epherene puckered and unpuckered her lips repeatedly, then in the end only tilted her head.
“Eh?”
She felt as if her mind were about to go blank.
However, “all the changes” Epherene had witnessed while walking led to one single fact.
Time.
“No way.”
And the future.
Deculein nodded. He even frowned slightly, as if to say she had realized it far too late.
“Correct. Your time was briefly disrupted. That is why I came here.”
At his words, Epherene’s mouth fell open. Looking at her dazed self, Deculein gave a warm smile.
“Huuuuaaagh…….”
But that smile was far more—honestly, even more shocking than this magical situation itself—and Epherene lost her grip on consciousness for a moment.
Thud──!
……She collapsed just like that and struck her head against the wooden floor.