Chapter 337: The Pea, Once More (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 337: The Pea, Once More (4)
Tap.
He lightly kicked a piece of coral near his foot.
As a result, his shoe, which had slipped out of the air bubble for a moment, was thoroughly soaked.
He hadn't put any force into the kick, and the coral was quite sturdy. It remained perfectly intact, and all he’d gained was a saltwater-drenched shoe. Displeased, he tapped his foot a bit harder against the sandy floor, scattering the white sand.
"Did I scare you again?" Arnayzel asked.
Calian stared back blankly, his eyes wide. It took him a moment to understand the question, recalling what he’d said when they first entered the sea. He had claimed his sour expression was because he ‘used to be afraid of the sea,’ so Arnayzel was now asking if he was still scared.
"No."
"Then did I say something you didn't like?"
"You didn't."
"Or are you angry?"
"I'm not."
"But you look unhappy."
"I'm just being petty," Calian admitted. "Because I only just found out that Sispanian made the Axis of Time."
"I enjoy learning things I don't know."
"Most of the time, so do I. Just not right now."
Arnayzel’s eyes were full of curiosity.
Calian knew the dragon was asking out of a genuine desire to understand, not out of concern for his feelings. After all, dragons were a race that sought to know everything.
"Sometimes, that's just how it is. No real reason."
Unable to explain the finer details of Sispanian’s secrecy to Arnayzel, Calian gave a vague reply.
His annoyance wasn't with the fact that Sispanian had created the Axis of Time, but a petty frustration that she hadn't told him until now. Sispanian wasn't the type to orchestrate putting a dead person's soul into someone else's body. Besides, Calian knew all too well that the real reason she couldn't explain properly was because of that damn Serenti—who had erased someone's entire life and was now sleeping peacefully. That was why he was merely being petty.
"Anyway, I understand. When I return to Kairis, I'll pass your message on to Sispanian."
"Yeah. Thanks for your help."
"In return."
"...In return?"
"Let me ask you one thing."
There was no such thing as a free lunch.
Since his peaceful sea-viewing had been ruined thanks to Arnayzel, he could surely ask for this much. Applying that eternal truth even to a favor from the Sea Dragon, the corners of Calian’s lips curled into a slight smile.
"What did the Great King of Secritia do with the Axis of Time during the War of the Two Gods? He couldn't have just used it to turn back time against the Evil God, so it must have had another purpose."
He had a mountain of questions, but this was one of the few Arnayzel might know the answer to. Childlike as he behaved, Arnayzel had lived since before the War of the Two Gods.
Arnayzel opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no sound came out. Calian knew exactly what was happening.
Serenti was blocking him again.
Preventing him from answering.
Frustrated, Arnayzel raised a hand and scratched vigorously at his blue hair. Then, he tapped a nearby rock with his tail fin, which shimmered like a polished gem. It seemed he was copying Calian's petty behavior from moments ago. Unsure whether to laugh or frown at the thought that he had a talent for teaching others bad habits, Calian spoke.
"Forget it. Even if I don't know when or why the Axis of Time was made, it was obviously given to the Great King to help defeat the Evil God. I'm sure he put it to good use."
"No. You've misunderstood."
After giving up on forcing the words out, Arnayzel fell silent for a moment before changing the subject.
"Sispanian made it because of the Evil God, but not to fight him. Though it was eventually used to defeat him, that wasn't its original purpose."
"Then what…"
"Do you know what the first thing Sispanian did back then was?"
Instead of answering directly, Arnayzel asked if Calian knew Sispanian’s first move when the War of the Two Gods broke out. This was something Calian knew well, so the answer wasn't hard to find. He had, after all, learned a great deal about the War of the Two Gods.
"Protection."
The dragon race was slaughtered by the Evil God, along with many other races. Sispanian had hidden the survivors. However, the number she could hide was extremely small—not due to a lack of ability, but because there were simply so few left. Recalling this, Calian’s red eyes focused.
The power to control time.
Which meant Sispanian…
"Don't tell me… she wanted to bring all the dead back to life?"
"Close. She made it in case everyone ended up dying."
She had created it as a last resort, in case everyone—including Sispanian herself—perished in the war against the Evil God.
"But in the end, she didn't use it. She couldn't destroy it after the war, but she chose not to use it. The human who received the Axis of Time also only used it to defeat the Evil God, not to turn back time. Much was lost, but not everyone had died."
Sispanian did not resurrect the extinct races.
The Great King of Secritia, who received the Axis of Time from her, only used its power to face the Evil God. He did not bring back the humans who died in the war, the heroes, or his lover, Bern Neriad.
The war ended, and time passed.
Sispanian did not turn back time for the deceased Hatsuara.
"Because it was something that must not be done."
Even though they could have.
Because it was something forbidden.
Calian could perfectly understand why they hadn't used that power. Even if all the pieces fell into his hands, he would rather destroy them than unravel time. He would do the same as Chase and Bern had done in the past.
"Yeah. I get it. More or less."
"I'm glad you understand. You mustn't forget to tell Sispanian. Make sure to pass it on."
"Alright. I won't forget."
Arnayzel nodded.
Then, with a refreshed expression, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he said, "Thank you."
Arnayzel raised a hand.
"See you next time, then. Bye!"
He waved vigorously at Calian.
And then, he vanished. He simply disappeared. Instead of returning Calian to the ship, Arnayzel vanished, leaving him behind in the depths of the sea.
Arnayzel didn't realize. It wasn't revenge for being called a fish; he truly, genuinely forgot. His heart had grown light now that Calian had agreed to his request, and in his giddy, carefree mood, he had completely forgotten.
He had forgotten that this was the sea, that they were underwater, that humans lacked gills and fins, and one more thing—that Calian couldn't swim.
"…Ha."
A complex mix of emotions crossed Calian’s face as he let out a hollow laugh.
The frozen seawater began to move.
Slowly, bit by bit. With Calian at its center, time began to flow again. First, the water at his tiptoes stirred, then the water around his feet. A short distance away, dark shadows swayed like rippling seaweed. Fish that had been frozen in place like taxidermy began to swim, one by one.
The massive air bubble enclosing Calian began to dissolve into tiny spheres of light. Like a large glass marble shattering from the bottom up, pure white bubbles rose from his toes, past his ankles and calves, and finally fizzed around his neck before floating toward the surface and disappearing.
His feet grew wet. The water rushed in. His body swayed, swept away by the current. The ship that had been directly above him moments ago was already drifting far ahead.
"Damn fish."
He told me not to forget, yet he's the one who forgot.
Just before the air bubble vanished completely, Calian chose to hurl an insult at Arnayzel instead of taking a deep breath. Then he kicked off with all his might toward the surface.
Coffee, bell peppers, grapefruit.
And blue-backed fish.
Master.
His list of disliked foods had just grown by one.
Master. Can you hear me?
There was no answer from Alan.
The flow of time on the ship, which was farthest from Calian, had not yet resumed.
His lungs began to burn.
*
The wind did not blow.
Alan's movements stopped. I realized his eyelids, which had been blinking slowly, were now completely still. I realized I wasn't breathing, either. For a while now, I hadn't felt my heart beat. Yet, I didn't feel suffocated at all.
I knew what it felt like for a heart to stop.
The sensation back then and the one now were distinctly different. There was nothing wrong with my heart or lungs. My body was perfectly fine.
My eyelids wouldn't move.
I couldn't even roll my eyes. However, I could tell that the moonlight illuminating the sea was briefly obscured by clouds before brightening again.
This meant the clouds in the distant sky were moving normally. The fact that they passed over the moon meant that only my immediate surroundings were frozen.
Once I figured that out, I understood.
Someone had bound time here.
Arnayzel. It was probably—no, definitely—his doing.
Whether it was because I had received Sispanian's blessing, as my younger brother—now an expert troublemaker—had said, or if this was simply the effect of that blessing, or if there was some other reason, I couldn't tell. But I knew one thing for certain.
My mind, which never truly rested even in dreams…
…Blink.
…was the only part of me that could perceive the anomaly of being frozen in time.
*
He had gone without sleep for long stretches of time.
He had been injured to the brink of death on many occasions.
But he had never simply stopped breathing with a perfectly healthy body and a sound mind. Nor did he have any desire to experience such a thing.
He kicked off with a burst of Aura and summoned the wind. It was enough to propel him high enough to see the moonlight. He saw the water's surface rippling and waves lapping against the ship, which wasn't too far off. Time would soon resume for Alan as well.
That was all well and good, but…
Come to think of it, this is why I sank back then, too.
If he had known this would happen, he would have worn lighter clothes.
The layered royal attire was so heavy and cumbersome. Every single gold button on his jacket and every jewel-encrusted cuff became an obstacle. Despite making it so far, he began to sink again before he could even take a single breath.
Calian channeled his mana once more, forcing his body toward the surface.
Then, a sudden laugh escaped him.
If he couldn't use Aura, couldn't use mana, and didn't have Alan, he would have drowned after going out to see the night sea, all because of some giant blue fish's forgetfulness. His last words would have been, "Brother, you can just pretend you saw a whale." The thought was so absurd it made him laugh.
He figured someone seeing him now might ask, "Are you really laughing underwater?" but he laughed anyway. He could still hold out, and seeing the water's surface move meant Alan would wake up soon. Once that happened, he would be pulled back onto the ship without any trouble. There was nothing to do but laugh.
"You're laughing. Right now."
But he heard someone actually ask that.
Strange.
He could see a talking piece of seaweed.
It looked like a scrawny piece of seaweed, but this talking something roughly grabbed him by the collar.
Splash!
And pulled him out of the water.
Should he be grateful he was pulled up by the collar instead of his hair? Should he ask, "Brother, Your Highness, why are you here?" Or should he be astonished that while he was sinking, his brother was floating there holding onto a single rope, and tease him about whether he really was duckweed, just as he had once thought?
Lost in these thoughts, he forgot he had been laughing.
"Breathe, Calian."
The low voice reminded him of what was more important than laughing right now.
His red eyes, which had been closing, snapped open again.
He drew in a breath, pulling air deep into his lungs. He breathed like someone encountering air for the very first time.
After that, he sank again.
Consequently, he was grabbed by the collar once more and hauled above the water.
He was just starting to feel the injustice of it all—how was he the one sinking when the Pea was wearing far more dangling ornaments?—and after repeating the cycle of breathing a couple more times—
Flash!
A brilliant white light flared from the massive sailing ship.
The Archmage, finally free from the frozen time, pulled the two of them back. He held his son—still so much smaller than him—and his son's older brother, who had jumped in to save him. With one in each arm, he patted them both on the back.
Calian rested his forehead against Alan's shoulder.
The Pea came again.
Master would have figured it out and come anyway, but the Pea just had to jump in here all by himself.
Instead of speaking, he simply breathed.