The White Wind Sings (4)
The White Wind Sings (4)
#66
"........."
"Are you thinking of even bringing a future Lily through time travel?"
Rubel asked in utter disbelief.
Sione opened her small mouth calmly, neither denying nor affirming.
"It's similar, but not the kind of time travel you're thinking of. And, anyway, the only thing that can heal your slave is Lily's Unique Magic."
Rubel immediately furrowed her brow.
"It's not exactly my slave, you know."
Sione retorted evenly.
"I've heard everything about this man from Risie."
"...... Anyway, please explain. What you're trying to say, from the beginning, so I can understand."
It was a rather bold remark, but Sione continued as if she didn't mind.
"Alright, then where should I start?"
"Everything."
"First of all, let me make it clear once more. You know that I personally cannot restore your slave's memories, correct?"
"Yes, I know that. Lady Sione's Unique Magic is a magic that deals with the body, after all."
"Yeah! Mom can't do it! Only Lily can!"
......What a remarkably cheerful confirmation.
"Your slave's amnesia is an injury to his soul. Memory lies in the soul, life in the body. To recover memories, the soul must be healed first. So the only one suited for this task is Lily, whose Unique Magic has fully bloomed."
"So you intend to send this man to a future Lily?"
"So you intend to send this man to the Lily of the future?"
"That means Lily, whose Unique Magic has fully blossomed, is the only one suited to this task."
"Yes."
In the end, I couldn't hold back and asked.
"Wait a moment."
Sione's gaze turned toward me.
"Then...... you're saying you'll send me to Lily twenty years later through time travel?"
"Precisely, sending only your soul."
Sione corrected calmly.
"I'm not sending your body. That's beyond the Rosenheim ability. But if it's just the soul, that's a different story."
Rubel furrowed her brow.
"That's all well and good, but is such a thing even possible?"
Sione looked at Lily for just a brief moment.
Lily was tilting her head while holding a soup spoon, as if wondering what was so interesting about the conversation.
"In the basement of this old castle, there is the 'Corridor of Souls' left by the first Rosenheim. In that place, Lily's ability to reach souls beyond the timeline is amplified beyond its original limits."
"Corridor of Souls?"
"Yes, even the current Lily can send your soul to the future within the corridor. That's what the place was made for in the first place."
"If you do something like that, won't major problems arise? Like in worldly films where the past or future gets changed."
"Such things don't happen because of the Book of Fate."
"Pardon?"
Sione spoke slowly.
"Simply put, we are all beings whose entire life stories are written in the Book of Fate. The fact that tonight you will cross the Corridor of Fate and receive treatment from a future Lily is also a predetermined event."
Rubel shot back immediately.
"That means, this conversation we're having now, and the events yet to come—all of it is already written in the Book of Fate. In the end, what's going to happen happens, so there's no problem."
A very faint smile touched Sione's lips.
"Yes, unlike your mother, your head works a little."
Was that really the case?
"These words we're exchanging here right now, the fact that the slave will cross the corridor tonight to receive treatment from Lily, and whatever comes after...... it's probably all written on some page of the Book of Fate."
I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.
Which meant,
Even my surprise, my questions, my fear right now—weren't those already written somewhere as well.
While I was having useless thoughts, Rubel began to sort things out.
"Alright, so we've reached a conclusion."
"First, send the injured soul of this slave through that corridor or whatever to a future Lily."
"Second, future Lily heals the slave's soul."
"Finally, return through Lily's Unique Magic."
"Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Then there's only one thing left. Putting it into action."
"Still, don't be in too much of a hurry. After the meal, let's all go down to the basement and see him off."
"Lily will see him off too!"
They said we can't go without you anyway...
#67
It was then.
Under the table, something cold brushed past the tip of my foot.
?
I looked down without thinking, but there was nothing there.
What the.
Something definitely passed by.
When I raised my head again, the candle flames on the table were swaying unusually long.
There was no wind—
Was it an earthquake?
Rubel seemed to have noticed as well.
"... Countess Rosenheim, is there perhaps an uninvited guest scheduled for tonight? I'll check the protective barrier immediately—"
Sione narrowed her eyes and answered.
"No."
A denial like a blade.
Lily tilted her head while holding her fork.
"Mom?"
At that moment.
Crack.
Somewhere, a very loud splitting sound came.
Now that I thought about it, it wasn't somewhere.
Because that sound began to come from all directions.
"Is it an earthquake?"
Rubel immediately cut off my words.
"How could there be an earthquake? This is a floating island in the sky, I said!"
Right. There was no way an earthquake could happen.
The mistress of the castle slowly rose from her seat.
Her green eyes scanned the empty air, and she muttered very softly.
"No way."
Now what?
Whoosh—
All the candles on the dining table went out at once.
Pitch-black darkness pressed into the dining room.
The darkness devoured every mana stone lamp hanging on the wall,
and soon complete darkness filled the room.
『—Blossoming flame—』
A small light bloomed above Rubel's hand, becoming the only source of light in the darkness.
But that light was not enough.
Not to push back all the encroaching darkness.
"......Mommy."
Lily's frightened voice came quietly.
Lily was looking around with an anxious expression I had never seen before.
"Everyone get behind me."
Sione immediately moved one step as if to block our front.
Craaaack—!!!!
A black line of darkness appeared in the empty air in front of the dining room.
And—
The thick line of darkness slowly began to widen.
Beyond the widening gap was complete darkness.
As if it had never existed from the beginning, only nothingness paradoxically filled the space beyond the gap.
Dammit.
What was this?
Looking to the side, Rubel, illuminated by the small light, seemed to be wearing the same expression as me.
Sione muttered in a low voice.
"The end of fate......"
Kugugugu—!
The entire mansion shook once greatly.
The chandelier on the ceiling swayed madly, and the tableware on the table clattered against each other noisily.
Screams of the servants could be heard from outside—
But as if someone had swallowed those sounds, before long only silence filled the mansion.
Rubel asked through gritted teeth.
"Countess, what is this? Is it a Hunter?"
Sione quickly shook her head.
"No. This isn't that."
Once again, the void ripped open.
Crack.
This time, right behind me—
I reflexively twisted my body, and the chair next to the table where I had been sitting until just now touched the black fissure directly.
And it vanished.
Completely.
As if it had never been there before.
"What the hell......"
Curses slipped from my mouth automatically.
This time, Rubel couldn't say anything either.
She scanned the fissures in the air with a sharp gaze and reflexively pulled up crimson mana once more.
Fwoosh!
Scarlet flames flared at her fingertips.
But they didn't last long.
As the black fissure in the air writhed once, the flame swayed like a heat haze and then vanished futilely.
"Even Unique Magic is being devoured......?"
Sione rested her chin on her fingertips and muttered quickly.
"It's too fast. Why on earth now......"
Lily suddenly sprang up from her seat.
The child's gaze, which had been fearful until just a moment ago, had completely changed.
Those big blue eyes,
as if they understood something before anyone else in this space—were shining so clearly.
"Big brother."
At that voice, my eyes, Rubel's, and Sione's all turned to the child simultaneously.
Lily was looking straight at me.
"Big brother!"
I froze without realizing it.
Big brother?
She had definitely just said big brother, right?
She had called me sister until just a moment ago.
Lily spoke without taking her eyes off me for even a moment.
"You have to go right now."
It felt as if every sound in the dining room had stopped.
"......What?"
I barely managed to utter.
Lily's face looked like she was about to cry, but her gaze alone was strangely vivid.
"Now."
"What do you mean—"
"If you don't go now, you'll be late."
What the...
"Big brother, you have to go now."
Rubel reflexively cut in.
"Lily, move aside. Right now we need to assess the situation—"
"No!"
Lily's voice burst out loudly for the first time.
It was an urgent and desperate cry, hard to believe it came from a ten-year-old child.
"If it's not now, it won't work!"
Sione's green eyes shook greatly.
She called her daughter.
"Lily—"
Lily didn't answer.
She was just looking at me.
"It's all because of big brother."
My heart sank.
"What?"
"The Deviant from fate."
Lily's hands were trembling.
"If you don't go now, you'll be late."
Thud—
Overwhelming everything around, blue mana coiled around my whole body.
Sione screamed almost at the same time.
"Lily, no! If you don't go through the corridor—"
The small child's lips moved.
"Big brother, never trust anyone—"
The world flipped over.