Loss (1)
Loss (1)
Tick. The needle of the clock moved indifferently.
Anxiously, Melina couldn't tear her gaze from the window. The sun had long since set.
"Have you found Olivia?"
"...I am sorry."
The secretary bowed his head.
"There are no clues. If she didn't breathe a word even to you, Tower Lord, of all people..."
Olivia had set out on a training journey early this year. Since she was to become independent without her teacher's help, Melina had no justification to stop Olivia.
All Melina could do was pray for her disciple's safety.
- I'll be back.
- Can you at least tell me how long it will take?
- For now, half a year.
Melina bit her lip.
'I should have held her back by any means back then.'
There was nothing wrong with Olivia going on the journey itself. Escaping their master's shadow to become independent was a mage's tradition.
Unless she invaded a dragon's lair, it was impossible for Olivia to suffer any rough treatment.
No, even if she had, the dragons would have generously forgiven Olivia's mistake. Unless they were blind, they would have realized she was Melina's disciple.
It wasn't because Melina was on friendly terms with dragons. It was because Melina had become stronger than the dragons.
The problem was that the half-year period included the time 'Olivia' was supposed to awaken.
It wasn't that she hadn't thought of it when sending her off, but she sent her because she trusted that 'Olivia' would return without fail.
That day was today.
Melina looked at the clock. It was midnight.
'Olivia' was supposed to return today.
And that today had just ended.
Watching the time flow by uncaringly, Melina thought.
She hadn't been this anxious even when the sun set. Surely she had gone far for her training. It was only natural that returning would take a long time.
But...
'Now, this is beyond the point where I can simply call it a delay, is it not?'
Melina tried to bite her nails but stopped. She had no more nails left to bite.
"...Ask the other Magic Towers for cooperation once more. Tell them that if Livy appears, they are to permit the use of the teleport gate immediately."
"Yes, understood."
The secretaries bowed their heads and withdrew.
'Just where in the world did she go.'
If she had left for training inside the Empire or near the border, asking the Magic Towers for cooperation would have sufficed. It would be the same even if she had left for another kingdom.
No matter how bad the relations between the Empire and the Kingdoms, they would try to improve relations by extending every convenience, rather than ruffling Olivia's feathers.
'Could it be... the Demon Realms?'
Even if she had gone to the Seven Great Demon Realms, nothing changed. Knowing Olivia's disposition, she wouldn't have recklessly gone deep inside. And even if she had, 'Olivia' would have been more than capable of escaping.
Melina stayed up all night with her eyes wide open.
Just in case something had suddenly happened. Or perhaps there might have been a mistake.
"Tower Lord."
"...Is there still no news?"
"Yes. However, just in case, we asked other kingdoms for cooperation, but..."
The secretary trailed off. He couldn't understand why Melina was reacting so sensitively.
It was Olivia, of all people.
Unless it was a powerful being on the level of an Archmage, no one could even wound her. That was how strong Olivia was.
And above all, Olivia's scheduled return date was still a long way off.
'Her scheduled return date is end of June to July. There are still three months left.'
At least within the Gold Tower, there was no one who didn't know how Melina had treated Olivia for the past two years.
Like her own child.
Thinking from the perspective of a birth parent, he could somehow understand.
"Tower Lord."
"..."
There was no reply. The secretary silently continued what he had been about to say.
"Lady Olivia will be fine. She is the most outstanding mage in the Empire's history, after all. There is no need for you to worry..."
"...Get."
"Excuse me?"
"...Get out."
The secretary knew nothing. It was because he knew nothing that he could blabber like that.
He wouldn't be so nonchalant if he knew the truth.
Melina spoke to the dumbfounded secretary.
"I want to be alone for a while."
Countless thoughts flooded Melina's head.
'...'
Melina silently looked down at the Fragments of Truth she had collected so far.
Eight pages.
Was it worth it for Olivia to stake her life on these measly scraps of paper?
On these measly scraps of paper?
Anger blazed up in Melina's eyes.
Whooooom...!
The atmosphere vibrated. Melina's aura grew fiercer by the second. Magic books fluttered in all directions.
But she couldn't even crumple, let alone tear, those papers.
Because they were the last remaining legacy Olivia had left behind.
Thud. Melina collapsed onto her desk.
"Ah, ahh..."
- Don't try to carry it all by yourself.
Her vision blurred. The trembling in her hands and feet wouldn't stop.
- Trust me.
Melina gathered up the papers and clutched them to her chest.
She couldn't protect her.
She couldn't do anything for her.
Nothing at all.
*****
[Clue #2]
[Memories of Imperial Year 992]
The plan was going smoothly. It couldn't have gone better.
'At this rate, Melina will soon reach the Truth.'
I'd played the game thousands of times, did you think I'd never guided a high-level NPC to the Truth before?
From experience, Melina had always reached the Truth when she received the tenth Fragment.
The Pinnacle of Time Magic.
Converted into the system, it was Level 100. The same level as the current Olivia.
She would be far stronger than the original Melina, but not to an unmanageable degree.
'Melina can't attack me.'
Unlike Kiel, Melina never attacked Olivia until the very moment of her death.
That fact wouldn't change even if she had glimpsed the Truth.
Because she was the only figure among the regressors whose Favorability was converted not into friendship, but maternal love.
She would rather die at the hands of her beloved disciple than kill her disciple.
- Thump.
'...'
Olivia froze on the spot and took a deep breath. Her heart suddenly felt like it was sinking, and she couldn't endure it otherwise.
[Title, 'More Saintly than the Saintess' is activated.]
- Your mind becomes tranquil.
Having barely regained her composure, Olivia reviewed the plan again.
'I can stop time, but...'
If that was all, it was a manageable counter. Her own experience and power were superior.
'At this rate, things will go smoothly...'
Olivia's thought couldn't continue.
[Clue #2 cannot be used!]
The message window that appeared the next moment completely wrecked her plan.
'...What kind of bullshit is this now.'
Olivia furrowed her brow and scrutinized the message floating before her eyes.
[An error has occurred between Clue #1 and Clue #2!]
- If Clue #2 is used, the first meeting with the regressor 'Kiel Rothschild' will change from Imperial Year 992, June to Imperial Year 992, March!
She was so taken aback that Olivia inadvertently spoke aloud.
"...No, why does that suddenly change?"
Olivia's face showed she could not understand at all. According to the message, it meant that Clue #1 and Clue #2 were not separate memories.
'...So they were shared?'
She could clearly envision a future where her head would explode from trying to calculate all the possible cases.
She could understand the point of the first meeting with Kiel changing.
If she were to use Clue #2, Olivia would wake up not in the Gold Tower, but in the Wood Demon Realm, Euran.
Because in the year 992 of the Genocide Run, she had been doing Favorability Grinding for Kiel in Euran.
Now, the problems began from here.
At this point in time, she couldn't leave Euran to go to Melina either. Not only would the point when Kiel felt a 'sense of déjà vu' shift, but when the time limit ended, the Genocide Run's Olivia would return to Euran.
If this happened, Kiel's memories would be thrown into confusion.
Would his first meeting with 'Olivia' have been in June of 992 when Clue #1 was first used, or in March of 992 when Clue #2 was used for the ninth time?
If the memories between the clues were shared, as the message said, the instant the use of Clue #2 ended, Kiel would enact the regressor Buster Call.
Because he would notice something was strange about his memories.
'Fuck, after all that trouble I went through to make that bastard into a person.'
If that happened, even completing her work on Melina with Clue #2 would be all for nothing.
Olivia had no choice but to make a decision. Using Clue #2 was rejected.
'...Well then, what now.'
If Clue #1 and Clue #2 were the same memory, the others would be the same.
'The routes will inevitably get tangled... doesn't this just mean don't use them from now on.'
The further into the latter part of the story, the frequency of meeting regressors naturally increased. If so, this 'overlapping' phenomenon would occur endlessly, just as it did now.
'How is this a memory. It's just a past event.'
Olivia didn't hide her irritation.
With this, it had gone beyond the level of simply calling it difficult.
It was impossible.
Managing even two was this bad, but fifteen was absolutely out of the question.
- Ding!
As if reading Olivia's dissatisfaction, a notification window popped up with perfect timing.
[Clue #2, the memory of Imperial Year 992, can be skipped.]
- Skip this memory?
Olivia's expression became strange.
'...This changes things a bit.'