Something More Precious Than Truth (3)
Something More Precious Than Truth (3)
A smile lingered on Melina's face at Olivia's congratulations.
She had no idea how many weeks she had held back just to hear those words.
'I must compose myself. I cannot show my disciple an unseemly sight.'
Melina barely suppressed her twitching lips and helped Olivia to her feet.
"Follow me."
Melina took Olivia's hand gently and headed somewhere. It was not toward the training grounds.
The two made their way to the forest behind the Gold Tower. Melina walked a little farther, then stopped near a small pond.
'...I am nervous.'
Olivia would have already noticed Melina's attainment. But if that were all, there would be no reason to feel this tense.
What Melina was about to do now carried a meaning beyond having her achievement evaluated.
Commitment.
'I will help shoulder your burden.'
She meant to demonstrate her resolve to share the weight that Olivia was carrying.
Now that she had become a teacher, she could not simply keep foisting everything onto her disciple forever.
"Now, this is it."
Golden mana bloomed at Melina's gesture. Outwardly, it looked no different from before.
But its origin had changed.
The magical power an Archmage accumulated over a lifetime was so pure that it carried the scent of nature itself, yet it could never become a part of nature.
Because ultimately, it was a force artificially refined by a human.
"The problem from the start was trying to contain the world in a human vessel. To contain the world, one must first become a part of that world."
But now, what she moved was not magical power but mana—the world itself.
Golden flowers blossomed.
Amid the scattering petals, Melina moved with fluid grace.
Olivia watched her in silence. She smiled outwardly and thought to herself.
'Favorability really went up a lot.'
Everything was going too smoothly—far better than expected.
In truth, the easiest way to raise favorability was to fulfill someone's long-cherished desire.
The longer they had held that wish in their heart, the greater the favorability they granted when it was fulfilled.
Melina's wish to reach the Truth had been a lifelong aspiration, which was why her favorability had risen that much all at once.
The reason the Genocide Run's Olivia never gained much favorability was the same.
The one who fulfilled Melina's wish was she herself, not the Genocide Run's Olivia.
'I should get started soon.'
The first phase was now complete. If things continued flowing this way, she could comfortably push both sides' favorability past 90.
'Creating a tragic heroine.'
From now on, she had to turn the Genocide Run's Olivia into an irredeemable bitch not worth associating with.
Melina was already distinguishing her from the Genocide Run's Olivia. Even if she could not read Olivia's time directly, she could at least perceive that the temporal currents flowing between the two of them were different.
In any case, the way Melina distinguished the two Olivias was slightly different from Kiel's approach.
Kiel had written them off as entirely separate beings: the Olivia who had surrendered her life to prevent destruction, and the Olivia who had stolen that life.
But Melina did not consider the two to be wholly separate. To her, they were simply the Olivia of the present and the Olivia of the future.
That was why Melina regarded both Olivias as her disciples.
Of course, that was not the truth.
The two were unmistakably different people.
'I'm the real one. That one is nothing but data.'
From here on, there were three things to think about.
'Making me the victim, making the Genocide Run the perpetrator.'
And finally, preventing the 'present' Melina from returning to the Empire.
The fact that Olivia and Kiel had met was something the other regressors could not even dream of knowing. Kiel's movements had been unclear in the previous Run as well, after all.
But Melina could not be sent back the way Kiel had been. If she were, the other regressors would realize that Olivia existed and start banding together.
'I have to keep her at my side.'
But how?
"What do you think?"
Melina approached with a bright smile.
"The day I stand on the same line as you is not far off."
"..."
There was something she had been speculating about for a while.
Once one reached the Truth through time, one could read the past of others.
So what, then, was a regressor's past?
The previous Run, obviously. The moment a regressor recognized that they themselves had regressed, their original past transformed into the distant past.
Then what was the past of an Olivia who had used Clues?
'She couldn't possibly show the past of the possessing Player. That's a story from a dimension higher than this one.'
In that case, there was only one answer.
"Oh dear, what's with that expression? Are you already afraid your teacher might catch up?"
"...No. I'm just happy."
"..."
Melina smiled. But it was a slightly different smile than before.
"Come here."
Melina spread her arms wide.
"Let me hold you just once."
She could feel Melina's heartbeat. She could feel the warmth of a hand patting her back. Melina patted her back, stroked her hair, then began kneading her hands again.
"My disciple."
"Yes, Master."
"Do not try to carry everything on your own. Your teacher will help you."
"..."
She could not see Melina's face, but she could guess what expression she wore.
She would be smiling. And at the same time, she would be heartbroken.
The joy of finally being able to reach the Truth, and the gratitude toward the disciple who had fulfilled her lifelong wish.
"Trust me."
The regret of only now realizing the burden her disciple had been carrying, and the bitterness of not daring to guess how heavy that burden must be.
"Trust me."
Melina said once more, asking her to trust her.
It was also a vow to herself.
"..."
Yes, Master.
That was how Olivia answered.
*****
Two hours and forty minutes.
Olivia vanished the moment her allotted time ran out.
Then she returned to being an ordinary disciple once more.
It felt like a midsummer daydream, but the paper in Melina's hand denied that.
'The fifth.'
Melina realized one fact.
Olivia did not awaken her Sage's aspect in order to hand over the Fragments of Truth. It was when the Sage's aspect awakened that she handed over the Truth.
Which meant she could not determine the timing of that awakening by her own will.
Then had it simply been a case of memories alone traveling back to the past?
If her mind had crossed through time in a complete state, there would be no reason for this.
'...I truly cannot tell.'
It was only because she had spent her entire life studying time that she was able to make even these rough guesses.
Crossing through time.
Melina did not believe in gods. Like all mages, she was an atheist.
But turning back time was unmistakably the domain of a god.
She was not talking about the sort of god like the Goddess of Light whom the Holy Kingdom served. The god meant here was the world itself.
'How on earth...'
Melina simply could not conceive of a method.
But if there was one thing that was certain—
'I must first stand on the same line.'
At the very least, she had to reach the same eye level as Olivia to understand what kind of view she was seeing the world through.
Melina clenched her fist.
"I can do this."
She had to. She absolutely had to do it.
Having made her resolve, Melina unfolded the fifth Fragment. Formulae began to fill the space around her. Formulae filled with ancient languages and runes that ordinary mages dared not even read.
Melina wrote out those formulae without a moment's hesitation.
One day passed, then two, then three...
Melina used every moment except the time spent teaching her disciple to interpret the Fragment. Even time spent sleeping felt too precious, and the nights she stayed up with open eyes grew more frequent.
And yet it was still abstruse.
The difficulty could not even be compared to that of the first Fragment. More than half of it was entirely uninterpretable. But Melina pushed on with the interpretation anyway.
She was pouring every scrap of knowledge she had accumulated over her lifetime into this.
Then at some point, Melina's hand stopped.
There was not enough. The content written in the Fragment unmistakably ended here.
Melina looked down at the point where the formulae cut off. She had managed to interpret it after investing several weeks, but she could go no further.
She herself lacked the ability to discover the next Fragment.
Olivia had to be there.
*****
'...Seven weeks this time.'
The intervals at which Olivia revealed herself were doubling. The time she could spend with her had grown longer as well, but that was not the slightest comfort.
"My disciple."
"Yes, Master."
"Are you aware that the interval at which you appear is growing longer?"
Olivia did not answer. She only smiled.
By then, Melina was certain of the price Olivia was paying.
The extinction of existence.
Even if it was not that, she had at least paid a price equivalent to it.
The reason Olivia accepted that price so calmly was—
'To show me the Truth.'
Melina was suddenly afraid. Afraid of losing someone again.
She must not receive any more Fragments of Truth.
Beyond this point was too dangerous. Olivia would not endure it.
"Here, Master."
Melina bit her lip hard enough to nearly draw blood. The closer she drew to the Truth, the more she realized just how recklessly Olivia had been repeating her actions all this time.
But it was far too late to stop now.
After hesitating for a long while, Melina accepted the paper.
It was not because she coveted the Truth. She had cast away such feelings long ago.
It was solely to save her.
'I must reach the Truth as well.'
The fact that she needed Olivia's help in order to save Olivia was horrifying.
But this was the only way.
'Just endure a little longer.'
She cut her meal times short. She cut her sleep even shorter. At some point, she even began forcibly increasing the density of every moment outside the time she spent teaching Olivia.
And like that, she interpreted the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth Fragment.
With the sole determination of saving Olivia.
'Not much remains.'
Now even Melina could tell. Two more times.
If she took two more steps forward, she could finally save Olivia.
'One year, this time.'
Only then was Melina able to calm her heart, however slightly.
But...
Olivia did not appear.