Ifrin's Time (2)
Ifrin opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a wooden ceiling. Above it hung a mana stone lamp, swaying gently.
"……Hwaaaaaah."
She blinked dazedly, then yawned hugely, her mouth opening wide like a cobra's. She shook her head vigorously, letting out a refreshing sigh.
"Kwaaaaa……."
"That was quite the yawn. Are you a dinosaur?"
"!"
At that moment, Ifrin's body went rigid. With a creaky ki-geek-gig, she turned her stiff neck toward the voice.
Sure enough, it was Deculein.
"Ah…… it wasn't a drea—"
"It was not."
Deculein set down the book he had been reading. Then he looked at her with an oddly kind gaze.
Ifrin found his inexplicable gentleness frightening.
"Why…… no, are you really Professor?"
"I am."
Deculein answered calmly. Ifrin quickly shot back.
"Not a monster?"
"What did you say."
"No no. Where is this? Why am I suddenly bigger, and the village……."
"You were caught in a magical phenomenon."
Magical phenomenon.
Could it be because of that pond dug in the middle of the thicket? No, she had only touched a bit of water—how could that twist the axis of time?
Deculein explained the reason.
"Because you are a special existence."
"……Pardon?"
"You will learn the rest in time. First, come out."
Deculein stood. Ifrin got out of bed and followed him.
The two first stepped out of the village hall.
"Whoa."
A northern landscape whipped by cold winds. Yet countless people bustled about, their faces and gestures brimming with vitality. Inns, shops, markets, restaurants, taverns…….
Just moments ago, it had been a frigid rural backwater. Ifrin couldn't believe how solidly the village had developed.
"……How many years have passed?"
"Who knows."
"Pardon? Ah. You don't know either, Professor."
Deculein walked on without a word. Ifrin matched his stride.
"No, Professor, more importantly. How is a magical phenomenon like this possible? Isn't time travel impossible even with magic?"
"For an ordinary mage, yes. But you are not ordinary."
Was that praise or an insult? Ifrin looked up at Deculein, then shifted her gaze to the street vendor behind him.
Chicken skewers thickly glazed with sauce. A delicious aroma wafted temptingly.
……Gulp.
Deculein chuckled softly.
"Hungry?"
"Sniif. Ah, no…… but. What do you mean, not ordinary?"
"Because of your 'origin'."
Deculein said. Ifrin tilted her head, utterly confused.
"Origin?"
"You will learn later."
"……What."
She glared at him with narrowed eyes on instinct, but quickly lowered her gaze, fearing a scolding. Yet the professor didn't seem offended.
What was really going on?
Ifrin asked again, her mind swirling with questions.
"Anyway. This is the future, right?"
"Indeed."
"How do I go back? To the present?"
"Who knows."
"Wha…… huh?"
Flustered, Ifrin widened her eyes and asked again.
She had assumed Deculein would know, of course. That he would naturally provide the solution: do this—then that.
With a faint smile, he said,
"This is the future. Connecting the present, past, and future is no simple matter."
"Then how……."
"You must wait. Until the passage opens again."
"……Passage?"
"Yes."
Deculein nodded. Then, with Telekinesis, he handed her a chicken skewer. Ifrin accepted without hesitation.
Clutching the skewer tightly in one hand, she asked,
"How does the passage open?"
"Likely, on the day the second comet falls."
"Aha……."
Ifrin belatedly recalled a villager's words. Two days ago, a shooting star had fallen into the thicket—be careful, they had said.
"When will that be?"
Nyam—she bit into a piece of chicken skewer.
Nyam nyam nyam—the first bite was so good, she chewed faster.
"That, too, I do not know. It could be three days, a week, three months, or a year."
"!"
At that instant, Ifrin's chewing stopped dead. She simply stared up at Deculein in shock.
He chuckled lowly and said,
"Do not worry."
"……."
Yet it was strange and wondrous. Hearing his words—mere words—her worries and anxieties melted away instantly.
Being near Deculein had that effect. He never changed, always steady.
If there was always someone calm by your side, even in the most absurd situation, you would believe in and rely on him.
……But.
"I will stay by your side until then."
"Y-Yes…… eh?"
Those words made her heart skip. Her mind suddenly went blank.
Ifrin lost her words for a moment. She blinked rapidly, then flicked her gaze away. Anywhere. At anyone.
"Whoa. Whoa! Look at that guy! Is that tiger skin real?"
She hurriedly pointed somewhere. A man draped in tiger hide like armor…….
……Ifrin had gone missing. The villagers' last sighting: she entered the forest where a shooting star fell two days ago.
"What, what do we do, Professor? What if Ifrin was attacked by a bear or tiger……."
Allen and Drent fidgeted anxiously, but I felt no particular worry. I knew death was not in Ifrin's future, at least.
"No need for concern. Begin the mission. I will assign tasks."
I drafted a mobilization cooperation letter with my pen. A request for nearby fortress soldiers to assist.
"Allen. Take this and collect soil samples near the untamed lands with the soldiers."
"……Yeees."
Allen pouted but nodded.
"Drent. You……."
Bang—!
Then the first-floor door burst open. Three knights entered first, like a tactical maneuver.
They advanced silently, armor clanking.
Scanning every corner with piercing glares, emanating mana to probe walls and ceilings meticulously…… Finally, one knight spoke.
"It appears safe to enter, Your Majesty."
"……Your Majesty?"
"Your Majesty?"
Allen and Drent echoed blankly. I looked beyond the wide-open door.
Step—step—
A woman appeared.
A massive fur coat from shoulders to knees, flaming red long hair, sunglasses perched on her face.
Emperor Sophien, eccentric as ever.
"Prepare to receive Her Majesty."
"!"
At the knight's words, the assistants prostrated themselves. I knelt on one knee. Sophien approached and looked down at me.
"It has been a while, Deculein."
She asked with a hint of amusement. Keeping my gaze on her heel, I replied,
"I see Your Majesty."
"Enough. Rise."
I stood and faced Sophien.
Sophien removed her sunglasses with a click. Peering at me with her signature crimson eyes, she said,
"I came to the north on inspection—and to find you."
"Inspection of the north."
Was the sun rising in the west tomorrow? Sophien and inspections made an ill fit.
But her next words made sense.
"Indeed. To settle our second game of the fifth season, as promised……."
──Three minutes later.
Sophien lay sprawled on the fifth-floor sofa.
"Hmmm……."
She had entered as the world's most aloof emperor, brimming with confidence and flair in her stylish attire—yet mere minutes later.
"This sofa is not very comfortable……."
She had become a sloth.
Likely due to the sudden temperature shift. The mini tower's interior was far warmer than the subzero outside.
"Yes."
I applied Midas' Hand to the sofa she lay on. Third stage should suffice.
Mana flowed from my palm into the leather.
"How is it now."
"Hm……. Marvelous. It has improved."
Sophien yawned hugely, adjusting to a more comfortable position.
One leg hooked over the sofa arm, the other dangling off the edge. The epitome of sprawling.
"Your Majesty. Did you come for go?"
"……Partly. Northern patrol was…… necessary as well. Hwaaaaaahm……."
Sophien's face was already half-asleep.
"This place is rather small as a base for northern patrols."
"Silence. Too talkative. Begone!"
She shrieked shrilly, drumming her heels on the sofa. Then promptly fell asleep—a sign her ennui and sloth were incurable.
……Snore. Snore.
Fortunately, her sleeping habits were not bad. Sophien slept quietly, snoring softly.
Watching her, I suddenly thought.
"Ifrin."
Where had that one gone.
I wasn't worried—she could handle herself—but curiosity lingered.
The northern shooting star was surely tied to a magical phenomenon. Where and how was she floundering…….
"Got one!"
Meanwhile, Ifrin was spending time in the future with Deculein.
Nothing special. Fishing like now, reading books, learning from Professor Deculein…….
The only difference from the past: Deculein was a bit warmer.
Whatever future event made the professor act this way—she was curious, but he wouldn't tell her.
"Look, Professor! Isn't this super expensive fish?"
"It is a live icefish. That size would fetch about 300 elne."
"300 elne!"
Ifrin gripped the rod, eyes bulging. Deculein watched her, then lit a campfire. Planning grilled fish, it seemed.
Whiiiing——
Re-casting the line near shore, Ifrin watched Deculein prepare fish skewers.
Sniif—as she instinctively swallowed saliva.
Deculein's hand stopped.
His aura stiffened instantly. The air froze; his expression turned icy.
Killing intent and hostility radiated in an instant.
Ifrin asked in a frightened tone,
"Wh-Why?"
"……."
Deculein regarded her silently. Then murmured lowly,
"The reason I do not tell you much is that interference from the future wields too great an influence on the past."
"Pardon?"
"Yet you are not the only one who knows this fact."
Then Ifrin sensed it belatedly.
The smell of blood wafting from not far away. Her shoulders tensed.
"Thus, a pack of utterly pointless wolves makes efforts."
Deculein skewered the finished fish on the fire.
Crackle crackle—
The fish sizzled slowly; Deculein gathered mana. Sensing danger, Ifrin prepared attack magic.
"So. Professor. That means……."
"Fools who think killing you now kills your past self. The future you is quite important."
At Deculein's words, Ifrin nodded gravely.
It was then.
───.
No sound. The assassins charged silently.
No footsteps; only a faint breeze. Ifrin struggled to track their movements.
Clang—metal rang. A sharp whoosh cut the air.
Ifrin deployed a barrier in time, but it might not block their attacks efficiently…….
……Yet.
By Deculein's side, pure white crystals bloomed. They flashed brilliantly in an instant.
Slicing space like lightning. Dozens, hundreds of charging assassins—their waists shattered like firewood.
No blood flowed; it froze midair.
Deculein's Frost Stone froze and incinerated the foes, killing them utterly.
"……."
The battle ended in a flash. The field was covered in frozen blood and flesh fragments, which began vanishing cleanly. Flames from the Frost Stone.
It froze everything, burning brilliantly.
Like thunderbolts, like flashes— the field blazed dazzlingly white. The dozens, hundreds of enemies that had just arrived melted formless in a single moment.
Ifrin couldn't comprehend the sequence.
Deculein explained in one phrase.
"It is the Frost Stone."
The field fell silent. Whiiiing—wind shook the hills.
"They will target you again, but worry not. That is why I came."
At those words, Ifrin gaped blankly.
"……."
Yet in that silence, Ifrin noticed something profoundly eerie.
Her heightened 'five senses' for battle detected it.
Ifrin looked at Deculein. Her instincts rang alarms.
Deculein now lacked a sound any human must have.
His body was unnaturally quiet.
In other words──
His heart was not beating.
"……Professor."
Ifrin said, staring at his chest. Her serious tone trembled faintly.
Grasping her gaze, Deculein smiled faintly.
"No need for surprise. It is a heart already dead."
His assurance of no surprise left Ifrin shocked beyond measure.