Epherene looked in the direction the adult Epherene had indicated. There was nothing in the dim corridor.
At least, it seemed like there was nothing.
Epherene asked in a small voice.
─Die? Why?
─Because there’s a serious danger. Because of it, in the year 964, it was decided that the entire Lokralen region would be discarded. What’s happening now is that disposal process, delayed and delayed again.
─A serious danger?
─Yes. You know it was a meteorite that caused Lokralen, don’t you?
─Of course! I just went and saw it.
─The microorganisms contained in that meteorite absorbed mana and kept growing, until they became an enormous monster that devours timelines. If that monster gets out of Lokralen—in other words, out into the world—the continent will be destroyed.
The future Epherene’s face hardened solemnly. At the mention of the world’s destruction, Epherene was shocked as well.
─Its precise academic name is “Kaidezite.” If you’re swallowed by them, whether past, present, or future, you’re preserved in one time period. I call it “segment repetition.”
As Epherene listened, dizziness suddenly swept over her. The adult Epherene supported her, puffing out her cheeks as if apologetic.
─Sorry. It’s knowledge from too far in the future, so it must have consumed quite a lot of mental strength for you to accept it. I can shoulder the mana, but not mental strength.
─Uh, yeah…
Epherene rubbed her temple and looked at Deculein. He, as expected, was completely fine.
─…Why is that professor Deculein fine?
“That professor?”
Deculein narrowed his eyes.
─Ah, sorry. Why are you fine, Professor?
─Mental strength. To put it simply, when someone with 50 mental strength hears knowledge from the future, their mana consumption is reduced by 50%. Someone with 10 mental strength has their mana consumption reduced by 10%. Professor Deculein’s mental strength is probably around 99, right?
─Come on, 99 is a bit… Anyway, you’re saying this place is dangerous, right? Let’s get out.
The adult Epherene shook her head.
─We can’t. I have to stay here and stop them.
─By yourself?
─Yes.
─…You’re incredibly strong.
Epherene, who had been blankly admiring her, soon shrugged.
So she’s going to be me. What an amazing future. As expected, I was always incredible…
As if she had read her mind, the adult Epherene smiled softly. Then she looked at Deculein. Deculein was gazing toward the far end of the corridor.
“Can you see them, Professor?”
The adult Epherene asked. Deculein gave a small nod.
They were clearly visible to his 「Vision」.
The time monster called “Kaidezite” was not far from Epherene, yet it could not bring itself to pounce, and for some reason lingered there with a strangely familiar hesitation.
It was sufficiently threatening, but there was still no death variable.
“Epherene.”
─…Yes?
“It is time we left. The conference is about to begin.”
─Ah, I want to stay a little—
“Come out.”
The adult Epherene placed a hand on Epherene’s shoulder.
“It’s all right. You can see me again tomorrow. The conference schedule is four days and three nights, isn’t it?”
“Can I speak loudly now?”
“Yes. They came to devour you two, but I was here, so they went back. They’re afraid of me.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Of course~ Do you know how amazing you are… But I have a favor to ask. Of you, Epherene, and of the Professor as well.”
Deculein and Epherene looked at her.
[ Lokralen Conference: The Archmage’s Request ]
◆ 1 Advanced Trait Catalog
“…”
At that moment, Deculein’s eyes widened.
Not because of the rare reward called an Advanced Trait Catalog, but because of the naming of the quest.
However, he soon looked at the adult Epherene with a composed expression.
“What favor?”
Epherene quickly asked. The girl, deeply impressed by her future self, was practically out of her mind.
“Deeper underground than this record archive, there’s still a ‘meteorite.’ It’s practically the main body of the Kaidezite. But the door is blocked by a rift in time. Most likely, the host devoured by the Kaidezite has the key.”
“A host?!”
“Yes. It’s searching for a way to get out of Lokralen. Until now, I’ve been blocking it, but it seems to have obtained a host. Since I only have one body, I was just blocking this place first because it was more dangerous…”
The adult Epherene looked at Epherene with mischievous eyes.
“Oh my. Now I have two bodies~?”
Epherene flinched.
“W-what is that supposed to mean?! That’s creepy!”
“Haha. So, about that… My dear Professor. Could you perhaps grant my request?”
At Epherene’s question, Deculein looked at his wristwatch.
6 p.m.
“Very well.”
He nodded.
「Advanced Trait Catalog」.
It was a reward he could not afford to miss, no matter what.
* * *
“Deculein! You were there?”
As soon as I came out of the record room, a woman with pink hair greeted me. It was Roserio.
“We seem to be seeing each other quite often lately.”
Her companion, an Aether-rank, was Kreto. Both of them were people from 958—in other words, from this year.
“It is good to see you, Grand Prince Kreto.”
“Haha. It is good to see you as well, Professor Deculein. The revised edition of Yukline was truly of great help.”
I greeted Kreto politely. Kreto smiled with satisfaction and nodded.
“Hey. Do you not see me?”
Roserio narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, Professor Deculein! It’s me! Delpen.”
“Professor! It’s me, Relin!”
There were quite a few others who knew me as well. First, Relin from 958; Delpen from 960, whom I did not yet know; Essensil from 958, an attendee of the Bercht Conference…
─The conference will begin shortly. Please come up to the conference floor on the second floor.
Just then, an announcement came down.
“Let us go.”
“Let’s.”
I walked with Kreto, and Allen, Roserio, Epherene, Relin, and the others followed behind.
“You are all here!”
The conference hall on the second floor. A middle-aged blond man in a suit greeted us.
“Welcome! I am the chairman of the Lokralen Conference, ‘Lokralen’! My real name was not Lokralen, but I was so enamored with Lokralen that I changed my name to Lokralen! Yes, indeed! I am also an ‘addict,’ but a very sociable addict!”
Lokralen chattered energetically. For the moment, I looked around. There were several conference rooms along the lobby corridor.
“This place is full of lectures, each with a different topic. Now, please take your tickets!”
Lokralen distributed tickets to everyone gathered there. There were only about three hundred conference attendees.
It was very few compared to the maximum capacity, but given the nature of mages, it seemed rare for them to bring companions at all.
“These tickets are entrance tickets to the conference rooms. Anyone may give a lecture, and anyone may attend up to three lectures! There are lectures from the future, and lectures from the past as well. Hahaha.”
Lokralen introduced the list of conference lectures.
It was rather all over the place. One room had [ Lupigel’s Elements ] from the year 958, another had [ Galei’s Tour of the Continent’s Mines ] from 960, and yet another had [ Deran’s Mysterious Herbology ] from 963.
“I have a question.”
At that moment, Epherene boldly raised her hand. Lokralen, who had been about to answer brightly with, What is it~?, saw Epherene and his expression soured slightly.
“How are we supposed to listen to lectures when there are people who faint just from exchanging a single word with someone from the future?”
“…Whose companion are you?”
Lokralen narrowed his eyes and asked back in an indifferent tone. Epherene looked up at my face.
Then Lokralen’s complexion brightened radiantly.
“Ah~ Hahahahaha! You were Professor Deculein’s companion! No wonder your bright curiosity shone so brilliantly~!”
“…Is that so?”
“Of course! Inside this conference building, things are all right to a certain extent. Also, the speakers in these conference rooms are doing ‘one-sided speech,’ you see? Since it’s a kind of expedient method of ‘overhearing,’ while mana and mental strength will naturally be consumed, you should be able to listen to about one lecture without issue.”
“Aha.”
“And fainting from merely exchanging one word? Impossible! That mage must simply have been tired.”
“Hmm~” Epherene seemed convinced, but she asked again.
“What if we steal that future knowledge?”
“Hahahaha~”
Lokralen swept back his hair and burst into laughter. It was an unbelievably greasy laugh.
“Memories acquired inside Lokralen will probably be hard to remember once you leave Lokralen. They merely sink into the far side of the unconscious, like afterimages.”
“Then why bother holding lectures…”
“They are ripples. Even if the memories are stored in the unconscious, at some moment, suddenly, the current approaches and—pow—ideas and inspiration surge up. Those ripples are never exactly the same as the real thing, but they are enough to lead to another development. Do you understand?”
When Epherene nodded, Lokralen even personally came over and patted her head. Epherene herself was horrified.
“Now! Then we shall proceed with the conference! Everyone, please attend the lectures you desire. Professor Deculein?”
I silently looked at Lokralen.
“Could I perhaps ask you to give a lecture tomorrow, Professor?”
[ Lokralen Lecture: A Suspicious Future ]
◆ Mana +15
“Very well.”
I nodded.
“Yes! Thank you! Now, everyone, please move! There is not much time!”
Clap, clap, clap—at Lokralen’s applause, the people began to move.
The conference’s proceedings were simple. One merely chose and attended the lecture one wanted.
“Epherene. You listen to whatever you want. Allen, the same goes for you.”
“Yes, sir!”
Epherene quickly ran off somewhere. Looking at it, it was a four-series lecture by the named mage Bizetan.
“Okaaay~ I’ll attend the same lectures as you, Professor~”
Among the many topics, I focused only on those related to “medicine.”
First, I attended [ Brahan’s Pharmacology Lecture ], then [ Herbs Newly Discovered by Molan in 963 ], and lastly lectures such as [ The Intersection of Medicine and Magic ]. For roughly five hours, Allen followed along beside me, nodding off.
[ Pharmacology Knowledge Rank: Advanced (77%) ]
Perhaps thanks to studying future knowledge, my pharmacology knowledge had surged by as much as 40%.
Of course, I did not know whether it would be maintained even after leaving Lokralen.
“…There were not many ways to test the elixir produced in this manner.”
The final, third lecture, [ The Intersection of Medicine and Magic ]. The lecturer, Kzecon, spoke as if in monologue.
Indeed, listening like this consumed less mana.
“Clinical trials were impossible, and nothing else was possible either. It could not be fed to humans, and whether what was fed to animals would apply equally to humans was…”
At that very moment.
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
A scream filled not only the conference room, but the entire lobby.
The professor giving the lecture stopped speaking, and Allen, who had been dozing off, flinched awake.
“P-Professor? What is it?”
“Let us go out.”
“Yes!”
I went outside.
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
The second-floor lobby.
A certain woman stood with her hands on her cheeks, letting out a hideous scream.
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
The scream did not stop, and the mages who had gathered before long first covered their ears.
“What is going on?!”
Conference chairman Lokralen appeared in a panic. He looked at the female mage standing in the corridor, listened to that scream, and immediately furrowed his brow.
“Hey, you!”
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
“Ugh, noisy. I understand, so stop! You’re bothering everyone!”
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
The scream went on without end, and Lokralen sighed as he approached.
“All right. All right, so tell me what you saw. What made you—”
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
The woman paid no attention to Lokralen and only screamed.
“Listen! I’m telling you to say what you saw—”
I seized the hand that conference chairman Lokralen was about to extend. Lokralen, who had been about to shake me off, confirmed my face and tilted his head innocently.
“Uh, Professor?”
“Do not touch her.”
“Yes? Why…”
I stood still and looked at the woman.
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!
“…”
A scream that did not break, no matter how much time passed.
A woman who did not move a single step.
The lectures had stopped before anyone knew it, and the watching mages began to feel a certain terror.