“…….”
Epherene, who had fled out of Time as if escaping, was staring at the desert on the surface. She blinked blankly.
The scenery of the world right now was truly worthy of awe. It was so mysterious that one might think they were dreaming, enough to leave them spellbound.
“The sand mist has stopped.”
She muttered blankly, then let out a hollow laugh. Seeing the grains of the sandstorm frozen in midair made it clear.
An empty space. Stagnant air. Nature, preserved like a specimen.
Right now, the phenomenon indicated by all this evidence was obvious.
Time had stopped.
“……Won’t it be released soon?”
If she waited just a little.
She didn’t know why it had suddenly turned out like this, but for now, wouldn’t it be fine if she waited?
After all, time had been stopped by mistake. It wouldn’t stay stopped forever. An unplanned magic wouldn’t be that solid.
“But……”
What if it didn’t come undone?
Epherene suddenly grew frightened. Phrases from the sages of magic in the past came to mind—accidents and mistakes instead become great magic.
……Gulp.
She swallowed. Her mouth had gone completely dry. She felt anxious for no reason. Without realizing it, she rummaged through the inner pocket of her robe. Her hand caught on a bundle of documents.
It was Deculein’s exam paper.
“……R-right. I’ve got plenty of time to study. That’s good, I guess.”
If it was going to be released soon anyway, then during that time she would be getting ahead all by herself.
If it was going to be released soon anyway.
“First…… should I go down?”
Epherene pointlessly ruffled her own hair. She trudged back down into Time.
Everything was still frozen as it had been.
Allen, Idnik, Julie—all of them.
The faces of everyone stopped in place were frightening for no reason, but still……
“I can figure out the magical error gradually.”
Epherene nodded as if it were nothing.
Tick—
“……?”
At that moment, a tiny vibration rose from the pants beneath her robe.
Startled, Epherene quickly shoved her hand into her pocket.
Tick—
A wooden pocket watch.
This thing’s time was flowing.
“You’re alive?!”
Tick— tick—
The wooden second hand and minute hand were moving.
Was it trying to tell her the time of “time being stopped”? Or.
“……You. Do you maybe know how to fix this?”
Epherene asked.
Tick— tick—
There was no answer, only its regular ticking.
“Hey.”
Tick— tick—
Tick— tick—
“……Sigh.”
Still, if she could at least know the time, that was a relief.
Epherene placed the pocket watch on the desk.
Tick— tick—
“At least I’m with you.”
She spoke to the ticking thing and gave a faint grin.
“Just wait. I’ll study and solve this quickly.”
Tick—
Epherene knew of the existence of “time energy.” It was a subject she had even published a paper on.
The energy possessed by the very concept of time. It might be mana, it might be nature, or perhaps it might be an entirely different power, but in any case, time held energy.
“It’s probably a problem with time energy~ Three months should be enough to solve it. No, there’s probably a higher chance it’ll just come undone on its own if I wait, right?”
Muttering so, she first began by analyzing the phenomenon.
Fortunately, because time had stopped immediately after the manifestation of the magic, there was plenty of evidence in this Time for her to infer from and investigate.
Tick—
“……Right. Watch me, Tick-Tock. Steelie has stopped.”
Tick—
Beside the pocket watch, Mok Gangcheol had frozen as if hardened. That child had failed to resist time.
“At least I have you.”
Epherene nodded.
“Then, first, Deculein’s exam.”
Since there was a chance the stopped-time phenomenon would resolve itself, she would devote about three days to this problem.
“Let’s see……”
She took the test paper out of the envelope.
——[Selection Questions for Support-Type Mages]——
The following formula is a cylindrical magic circle composed of countless three-dimensionally interconnected circuits.
Assume that the inner and outer radii of this cylinder are R1 and R2, respectively.
The cylinder is connected to a mana stone with mana capacity S and resistance value V, as shown below. The mana stone transfers 97.3195% of its fully charged mana to the sphere.
The mana concentration in the atmosphere is extremely small and may be ignored, and the dispersion effect will also be ignored.
(a) Draw the mana flow and circuit diagram of the sphere in the region R1 < R < R2.
(b) Find the magic vector in the region R1 < R < R2.
(c) Disassemble the magic circle and calculate the effect that the unit energy flowing through the region R1 < R < R2 will have on the world.
(b) Write the complete formula of the three-dimensional figure realized in the contradictory region R2 < R < R1.
———————
“……What is this?”
Selection questions for support-type mages. The kind of absurdly difficult problem that made such words spill out the moment she saw it.
Epherene stared blankly at the page.
* * *
……And so, three months passed.
The basis for saying that these three months were three months was the wooden pocket watch.
Because the pocket watch’s time moved naturally, Epherene had marked one stroke in Time every time twenty-four hours passed.
Therefore, the time that had passed since time stopped was three months.
Exactly three months.
“……Tick-Tock.”
Tick— tick—
And now, Epherene, sprawled on the floor, muttered as she stared at the pocket watch with tired eyes.
“Three whole months have passed, but it still hasn’t come undone—!”
Epherene ruffled her hair and shouted.
“I don’t know either one.”
Deculein’s selection exam problem, and this time-stopping phenomenon as well.
She didn’t know.
She had no idea at all.
“Aaaagh!”
She grabbed at her own head.
“There’s no answer!”
It wouldn’t be solved.
No, she couldn’t solve it.
Having turned into the very image of a mad scientist, Epherene gave a hollow laugh.
“Ha. How am I supposed to solve it when I’m trapped in this stopped time?”
She couldn’t relieve her stress, no new novel volumes were being released, she couldn’t eat Roahawk, and even though she didn’t eat, she didn’t get hungry. That was even creepier, so suddenly she had horror-story thoughts like, “Am I actually dead?”
Tick— tick—
“……Hey. Tick-Tock.”
Epherene looked back at Tick-Tock.
“What am I supposed to do? Am I really already dead and turned into a ghost?”
It had been magic she had prepared perfectly with good intentions.
But time had stopped, and because of that, only she had been trapped.
Tick— tick—
In the sound of Tick-Tock’s ticking, Epherene let out a sigh.
“……Why.”
How had things ended up like this?
“……Was Sylvia right?”
The attribute called time. A talent that, if not controlled, if not governed, would become a disaster not only for oneself but for the entire continent.
Then, would time start moving again if she killed herself?
“I don’t want that.”
Still lying down, Epherene turned her head and looked at the papers scattered across the road surface.
Half were Deculein’s theory, and half were traces left behind in an attempt to solve this phenomenon. Notes written not with pencil but with mana. If she used a pencil, the graphite wouldn’t stick.
Like this, the only things moving in this world were herself and her mana.
Of course, she could force things to move by exerting physical force. Turning the pages of a book, for example, things like that.
But once she let go, they stopped right where they were.
“Ah…… damn it!”
Shouting out, she sat up and picked up Deculein’s selection exam paper again.
[The following formula is a cylindrical magic circle composed of countless three-dimensionally interconnected circuits.]
As she read the first sentence of the problem, one word caught her eye for no reason.
“……Cylinder?”
A cylindrical form.
Why a cylinder, of all things?
Epherene raised her eyes and looked at Julie. More precisely, she stared at the tube of time in which Julie had been placed.
“No way.”
She sprang up and sat in the chair.
“No way!”
* * *
……And so, another three months passed.
A full six months had passed.
“I had this weird thought that maybe the cylinder was a hint from Deculein. It wasn’t.”
During that half year, she solved Deculein’s selection problem.
After struggling like mad, she had somehow solved it theoretically, but in the stopped world, mana stones would not operate, so she had yet to verify it.
“How could the professor have foreseen this would happen and left me a hint? Right?”
In other words, time was still stopped, and Epherene’s mind, all alone, was in danger.
Now was harder than when she had repeated those endless regressions with no promise of release.
Back then, at least, they had all shared a common goal.
Now she was alone, and what even was this?
“Right, Tick-Tock? Answer me.”
—Tick.
After waiting, an answer came back.
Taking comfort in that, Epherene was walking through the desert.
From the desert to the Empire, on foot.
For now, she intended to go to the Empire.
She needed books.
She felt that if she put something into her head, she might be able to solve this problem.
“Casey. I’m going to find that person.”
She had plenty of time. Whether it would take one year or two, Casey.
She would find that person and read every unpublished theory and book they had.
She would cram them into her head and end this damn stopped time.
“Tick-Tock. But.”
Epherene was walking through the desert.
However, she held nothing in her hands. Even Deculein’s exceptionally excellent map was useless in stopped time.
“Is this the right direction?”
In other words, Epherene was crossing the desert on her own two feet. Without even knowing whether the direction was right or wrong.
Tick—
“……Right. Even if it’s wrong, whatever. I can just go again.”
She had plenty of time.
Epherene muttered emptily as she moved her two legs. Walking over sand dunes into which her feet sank deeply, in search of the Empire that might or might not appear.
* * *
……And so, she wandered for half a year.
Searching for direction in the desert, for a full six months.
“Ah…… it’s the Empire.”
Even at the sight of the Empire finally appearing, she had no strength left to be happy. In truth, she wasn’t happy.
After all, she had only reached a rural area on the outskirts of the Empire.
“Tick-Tock. I heard this sometime before.”
Epherene muttered blankly and gave a hollow laugh.
“They said it takes another three months on foot to get from the Empire’s borderlands to Hadekain.”
Three months on foot.
But if she lost her direction again, she had no idea what would happen. The Empire was larger than the desert.
“I’m going crazy.”
Epherene’s mind grew distant.
Even if she found Casey’s scientific books and, through them, realized a method, just returning would take at least a year.
Of course, she had left signposts so she wouldn’t get lost……
“Let’s go.”
For now, Epherene walked.
Feeling keenly how convenient Assistant Professor Allen’s talent was, and hoping there would be no despair beyond this.
“……Still, it’s nice to see people, Tick-Tock.”
At least looking at people was better.
There had been people in the desert too, but all of their expressions had been awful.
“The countryside’s nice.”
A man farming, an old man riding an ox down the road, a child running here and there with a runny nose.
At the typical rural scenery, Epherene smiled, and so moved her legs.
Within the stopped world.
Only her two feet continued to seek the earth, walking endlessly…….
* * *
“Finally, Hadekain.”
She had reached her destination, Hadekain’s lordly castle. It had probably taken three months.
She had come to Hadekain’s publishing house, but now she had no strength left to shout for joy.
“I need to go to the publishing house…… Casey’s new work. As long as I get that. Tick-Tock. Just hold on a little longer.”
Tick—
The pocket watch answered, and Epherene continued moving her feet.
She didn’t know whether this was fortunate, but she had not felt anything like fatigue until now. To begin with, she didn’t need to eat, and she didn’t need to sleep. Epherene was an engine that did not stop within stopped time.
She was roughly assuming the reason was “because it’s my talent.”
“Here.”
At last, she arrived at Hadekain’s publishing house.
“There should be all sorts of things in the basement, right?”
Epherene opened the publishing house’s front door.
“I just need to find Casey’s new work here. There are plenty of other scientific books too, so let’s read them all. Let’s study here……”
She entered with the pocket watch.
In the publishing house, the employees were frozen exactly as they had been while working. Epherene first set down her bundle to one side.
Inside this bundle were Deculein’s selection exam paper, of course, as well as the collection of hypotheses on “time stopping” that she had written so far.
They were the thoughts that had occurred to her while walking almost endlessly, written down whenever she had the chance.
“Let’s see…… Tick-Tock.”
There was no need to painstakingly search for Casey’s new work.
Epherene took the pocket watch in her hand. She infused it with a small amount of mana.
“Let’s turn it back for just a moment.”
Then, ticktickticktick———
Tick-Tock ticked with tremendous force, and for a moment, time rewound into the past. Voices suddenly bloomed, and countless footsteps rang out—tadadadak.
Epherene stood in a corner, observing the scene.
No, observation was all she could do.
After all, this scene was only Tick-Tock using my mana as fuel to “show” me time from the past.
“It’s a shame every time I see it. I can’t even touch anything, you know?”
In truth, the publishing house employees bustling back and forth passed right through Epherene.
Without knowing she was there, or that she was watching the past from this future.
“Anyway……”
Epherene closed her eyes and, with her ears open, listened to the voices of this past.
Among the countless conversations coming and going, she uncannily caught someone’s name.
—……Casey. Designated as a forbidden book.
Snap—!
She flicked her fingers, and space came to a halt.
The past collapsed, and the world returned once more to the “stopped present.”
“There it is.”
The place where that publishing house employee had just gone while muttering Casey’s name was underground.
Epherene followed him down the publishing house stairs and approached the bookcase where he had placed Casey’s manuscript.
“Phew.”
The moment she found the original manuscripts shelved there, a sigh of relief escaped her.
Thank goodness.
So they did keep forbidden books after all.
“There are three volumes in total.”
There were three of Casey’s books designated as forbidden.
All of them were titled Theory of Relativity.
Theory of Relativity Volume 2, Theory of Relativity Volume 3, Theory of Relativity Volume 4.
Just how important and shocking a scientific discovery was this, that it was published in four volumes?
“As expected, hope was here.”
Even as she spoke of hope, Epherene’s expression was numb.
Perhaps because she had lived alone for nearly two years.
Well, thanks to Tick-Tock, it seemed she hadn’t gone so far as to develop a mental illness. Once she returned to normal and started living again, she’d recover in no time, right?
Though thinking about how many more years she might have to study here made her feel a little bleak.
Anyway.
Tak, tak— Epherene brushed the dust off the manuscript.
“Why are mages trying to ignore this science?”
Manuscripts that had never become books.
And yet the value of these things was greater than all the papers magic professors ceremonially published just to protect their positions, combined.
“Even sending purge officers after me.”
Come to think of it, couldn’t she just find the purge officers while time was stopped and kill them?
“……That’s a pretty dangerous thought.”
Epherene shook her head hard.
Once again, I’m not a mage who kills people. In the end, the purge officers are only moving according to orders from above.
“Let’s just study.”
Epherene looked over Casey’s now-clean manuscript. She sat on some random box and opened to a page.
The very moment her eyes lit up, searching for new facts and things to study—
Tick— tock— tick— tock—
Suddenly, Tick-Tock rang out noisily. Its second hand rewound on its own.
“Huh? Tick-Tock, what are you—”
Step—
A footstep descended, cutting off Epherene’s words. Startled, she rose from her seat and looked toward the person coming down the stairs.
Step— step—
The heel of a shoe filled with dignity and refinement. A stride of perfect measure.
She could tell from the sound alone.
It was Deculein.
She did not know what past this was, but in any case, it was a past where Deculein existed.
“……”
Even knowing that she could not affect him, Epherene pressed herself against the wall almost by instinct. Hidden, she watched him.
—There was no need for you to come in person, my lord…… Hahaha.
—Just guide me.
—Yes!
Deculein was with a man who looked like the head of the publishing house.
First, the man hurried over and pointed to the bookcase where Casey’s manuscript was shelved.
—This is it. I was about to burn it, but then you suddenly contacted me, my lord……. Shall I burn it before your eyes? This is the only original.
The man threatened the manuscript with the torch in his hand. Epherene’s face, for no reason, became full of interest.
Now that she thought about it, why had Deculein left this original manuscript here?
—No.
Deculein shook his head. To Epherene, it was quite a surprising reaction.
—Leave it here.
—Pardon?
—I said to leave it.
He spoke as though it were nothing, but the man’s face turned strange.
—B-but, my lord. A very strong request for cooperation has come down from the Floating Island and the Imperial Palace mages.
A very strong request for cooperation. Epherene did not know what that meant.
If it was very strong, then it must be very strong.
—They ordered the entire original to be deleted, erased…… If they find out we are keeping it, a purge officer may attempt an inspection.
—It does not matter.
Even at the mention of a purge officer, Deculein remained firm.
However, perhaps because his livelihood and life were at stake, the man mustered his courage and asked again.
—……Might I ask the reason? I beg your pardon, but it is the first time the Floating Island has gone so far as to send people directly, so I have no choice but to ask, given my position…….
Deculein quietly looked down at the man, who was practically begging as he wrung his hands.
As if glaring at him, he remained like that for a moment before answering as though to himself.
—Because even a forbidden book as subversive as this may be of help to a certain someone.
—……Pardon? H-help?
“!”
The man still seemed doubtful, but Epherene’s eyes widened with certainty and shock.
Without realizing it, she covered her mouth.
—Do not ask any further. Go back upstairs.
—……Yes. Understood.
At that, the man went back up without daring to ask more, and Deculein remained alone in the basement for a while, looking at the bookcase.
He stared intently at Casey’s manuscript shelved within it.
And then……
—……Someday, she will take it upon herself to steal it again.
He let out a small chuckle, as though thinking of something, and smiled with satisfaction before turning his back again and climbing the stairs.
“……”
For some reason, that simple sight pierced Epherene’s heart.