Time. (2)
I relied on the crystal tree's mana recovery to repeatedly invoke Midas' Hand.
Not only the wooden steel, but also the Georg suit jacket, coat, and shoes each received different enhancements.
◆ Special Effects
: Feet are the organs that support the entire body. Thus, wearing these shoes seems to make one's whole body feel at ease.
: Improves walking efficiency and maintains better balance.
: Easily resists any kind of binding magic.
The jacket and coat gained anti-magic and protective functions.
The defense-specialized wooden steel received "Proliferation"—a special magical effect that briefly multiplies the object's numbers.
The support-specialized wooden steel even combined with "Tap ing"—a self-healing mechanism fused with duct tape.
—I'm still amazed by you, Professor.
Ifrin spoke then. I manipulated the renewed wooden steel as I replied.
"What do you mean."
—You're not curious or afraid about what happens in the future, or why there's no you there.
"Is that so."
—Shall I tell you?
Ifrin asked. I lifted my eyes to the opposite side. The chair was still empty.
—If I tell you...
"No need."
I shook my head.
I naturally have no idea how this world will proceed or continue. How the scenario might twist due to Kim Woojin's intervention is an unknown domain.
Still, there seems no need to force a change. No matter how I think about it, his future doesn't seem the worst, so letting things proceed like this shouldn't be bad.
After all, the main quest's worst outcome is "continental destruction."
—...Truth is, I can't tell you~ The future Professor asked me not to. Absolutely no telling~
Ifrin deliberately brightened her voice.
Just then, 5,000 mana had filled up, and I bestowed Midas' Hand on the final piece of wooden steel.
Chijijijik—!
The sound of mana sparking like electricity.
That was the end.
I'd estimated a week, but it wrapped up in just two days.
—Are you done now, Professor?
Ifrin spoke right on cue.
"Yes."
I controlled the wooden steel, each bearing different traits.
No, there was no need to control them at all. The nineteen blades moved as naturally as if they were living beings.
"This should suffice."
I gazed into the darkness ahead. Countless monsters swarmed there. Their numbers had more than doubled since two days ago.
"Dealing with that trash should be easy enough."
—Yes. Go get 'em, Professor.
"...Is that all you have to say?"
I rose immediately. No need to wait for mana to fill.
The mana consumed by the wooden steel's Telekinesis approached zero anyway.
—She wants to pass on that she loves you? Even if it's unrequited, forever... But our bond now is beyond that.
The sudden words caught me off guard. I furrowed my brow and glared that way.
"...Understood."
—Yes.
There was no reason for further talk.
I advanced into the darkness untouched by the crystal tree's light. As if waiting, hundreds, thousands of monsters charged in a frenzy.
────!
Their roars shook the ground. The echoes mixed with footsteps were no different from an earthquake.
"Filthy vermin."
I scowled and preheated the wooden steel.
Gooooh...
Mana filled the nineteen blades of steel, and they soon operated as a single "system."
Shwaaaaa—!
The sound of slicing air. Lines of steel streaked through the void.
Beyond them, thousands of monsters surged like a tidal wave, but in this battle, each steel performed its role.
Some dismantled charging monsters' bodies, others whirled on their own to upheave the earth, and still others floated up like barriers to protect me.
Division of labor and specialization.
Thanks to this efficient combat structure, I didn't lift a finger. I simply took one step, then another, advancing through the enemies' midst.
Kwadudududuk—!
Bone-grinding sounds seeped into my ears. Wails indistinguishable from roars.
Gushing blood, scattering flesh remnants and filth.
I blocked such repulsive refuse entirely with Telekinesis and began the trash cleanup...
* * *
...Meanwhile, Ifrin arrived at a northern village with Sophien. It was the village where she'd first met the future Deculein.
"This should be the place!"
Ifrin said energetically, while Sophien simply inhaled the scent of this time.
The air differed between future and present. Sophien could sense it.
"Hmm... Let me see..."
Ifrin scanned the marketplace. Searching for one person, but luckily, she spotted him quickly.
"There he is!"
Sophien turned as Ifrin pointed.
"You!"
She rushed over and grabbed a man's wrist.
"Herb boy!"
It was the herbalist from before. He seemed startled by the sudden charge but nodded upon seeing Ifrin.
"...Ah, yes. Mage Ifrin."
"Nice to see you again."
"Yes. Likewise."
Sophien approached with hands behind her back. The herbalist glanced at her robed figure before speaking to Ifrin.
"But, you're back again."
"Yeah. Got some questions."
"Yes. Ask away."
The herbalist Jupan was cooperative as ever. Stoic face, but kind.
Ifrin got right to it.
"Professor Deculein? Know where he went?"
"...Pardon?"
The herbalist's face filled with surprise. His narrow eyes widened, fixing on Ifrin.
Ifrin tilted her head.
"What's wrong?"
"You... don't know?"
"Know what?"
Ifrin pressed. His expression was inscrutable.
Hmm, erm, hmm. He pondered overly long, scratched his cheek, and finally spoke.
"Well... the Professor..."
He glanced between Ifrin and Sophien beside her. As if gauging, reluctant to say.
But, whoo... He sighed deeply and said it.
"He's passed away. As far as I know."
"...Huh?"
Ifrin blinked innocently, while Sophien stared at him intently.
Silence fell briefly between them. The marketplace bustle echoed distantly, hazily.
Gulp—Ifrin swallowed and asked again.
"Passed away... like, went back home? Oh~ Home?"
"No. He... um... traveled to the Leok Kingdom... returned here but..."
He scratched his head. Then snapped his fingers as if recalling.
"Ah, right. I asked if he came back for fish-related business, and he said he was waiting for someone here."
"Waiting?"
"Yes. Probably..."
The herbalist looked at Ifrin. The words trailed off, but it was enough to understand.
"..."
Ifrin's mouth hung open, dumbly agape.
A single word tumbled out foolishly.
"Liar?"
"...Sorry. Thought you knew."
"Ah... no way."
Ifrin recalled the Deculein she'd met before.
The man who'd said his heart was already dead. But promised he'd live another hundred-plus years, no need to worry...
"No way. He said over a hundred years more? He's not one to lie."
"A hundred years? Not sure what that means, but... Count Yukline came in person."
"..."
Dizziness hit suddenly; Ifrin staggered. Sophien remained silent, merely inhaling this time's scent.
And belatedly realized the difference between present and future.
"...I see."
Sophien possessed near-miraculous senses.
Thus, she could distinguish a person's presence by their scent in the air alone. The greater the presence, the clearer.
So, Deculein's presence was absent from this world.
Probably from the moment they arrived in this future.
"Luna."
Sophien called Ifrin. She turned, lips trembling.
"Thanks to you, I've learned an important truth."
Ifrin couldn't help but be startled then.
Emperor Sophien's expression was terrifyingly hardened...
* * *
"Hmm..."
Far-future Ifrin fiddled with the cube. Rolling it with one hand to match the colors.
A toy she'd once avoided as unfit for her personality, but now she smiled faintly. She completed it swiftly and peered closely.
"...Done."
Satisfied, she rested her chin on her hands and surveyed the empty space.
The Time Sanctuary.
Here she'd someday meet Idnik, Murkan, Demakan, reunite with Sylvia, confess to Deculein...
Memories flooded by.
But now, it was little more than ruins.
The crystal tree's life was nearly spent, and the space's remaining time scant.
Only she, Ifrin Luna, remained here.
Alone.
"..."
Ifrin recalled memories of Lokralen someday.
Days with Deculein.
Those times were so ephemeral, so blissfully cruel, and above all, even for an archmage, remembering that expanded time in full was grueling...
The moment she emerged from Lokralen— she'd forgotten more than half.
The emptiness, the grief; how she'd wept.
It hurt like her heart ripped out whole.
So devastatingly painful.
"...Professor."
Ifrin pressed her lips to the crystal tree and called him. But his voice no longer returned, nor his face appeared, naturally.
Thus, her last direct encounter with Deculein was at Lokralen.
...What happened there remains eternal secret.
—I'm here.
A sudden reply. Ifrin startled but soon beamed brightly.
"All done?"
—Killed them all.
"...Classic Professor."
She placed her hand on the crystal tree's surface.
Sagrak—sagrak—
Blue leaves settled on her head. Meaning little time left connected to the past.
"Professor."
—Yes. Speak.
A voice unknown when it might be last. Hearing the world's most beautiful timbre, vowing never to forget until death, Ifrin smiled.
"Now, farewell. It was so happy reuniting after so long."
—...
"And listen well."
Ifrin still had words for him.
Utterly, profoundly important ones.
If the future might change, somehow.
If even a sliver of possibility.
It would be thanks to these words.
"Since this truly is the last."
Ifrin slowly opened her mouth.
"Please, listen well. 'לפנ ■■שאור ■■אל עוזב…….'"
* * *
'לפנ ■■שאור ■■אל עוזב…….'
The future Ifrin left those strange words and departed. Not quite Rune Language—even I couldn't decipher it—and no foreign tongue, as I know all; thus, reasonably, interference from the world itself.
"I'll remember."
I stored only the voice and pronunciation in my mind and sat back in the chair.
"Ifrin."
I called her name. But no reply came, no matter how long I waited. The space-time link had severed.
She'd expended ten years of life, yet only two days passed.
"Hm."
I gazed at the tree's sparkling, crystal-like surface. Suddenly, I recalled Ifrin's words.
"So I'm absent from your future."
What becomes of me in her future.
To claim zero curiosity would be a lie.
"Death, perhaps. Or..."
I paused, pondering deeply.
But no matter the deliberation, the conclusion remained singular.
"...I've died."
Death.
Far shorter lifespan than expected. Considering the main quest's scale, even optimistically, I won't last beyond three years.
Within those three, I die, and she pursues my already-dead self?
"Pitiful soul."
Whether her or I is the pitiful one, unclear.
The moment I reached that conclusion.
──.
Somewhere.
Not far, a tiny presence like a bird stirred.
Basrak—stone fragments shifted, surprised breaths leaked.
I instinctively turned there. The nineteen wooden steels reacted noisily.
Weeeing—
Resonating, glaring at that direction—the nineteen steel shards.
Confirming the intruder's form, I raised a hand to halt them. No need for vigilance; it was no threat.
"...Unexpected."
I said to her. She'd no plan to be caught, it seemed, but upon discovery, she faced me boldly.
Though her fingertips trembled.
She'd likely overheard my talk with Ifrin.
"Pleased to see you."
I greeted her with a faint smile.
"Sylvia."
In Krevas's depths.
Beyond the fog-shrouded darkness, a golden-haired child stared at me.