Liwin's Whereabouts (2)
Elfin hesitated for a while longer, but as I kept staring her down, she gave in with a laugh and continued.
Up until now, it had been her story. But this was about what Liwin and Yustina had been up to after my death.
I could guess at Yustina's path, even if Liwin's was a mystery.
"Yustina went off to found the academy, right?"
"Yeah, I didn't know it back then... but looking back, that's probably it. She said she was heading to the dragon's nest, though."
"Dragon's nest?"
"Probably to talk to her kin. Playtime... or, well, can we still call Yustina's life 'playtime' even now? Anyway, she said she wanted to extend her fun a bit longer. To stick around the human world some more."
"Yustina said that......"
If that was true, Yustina had jumped into action the moment I died, without a second's hesitation. Building the academy to carry on my dream, waiting for my reincarnation. If it was just about carrying on my dream, a little school in the countryside would've done. If it was only about waiting for my reincarnation, she could've done nothing at all.
But Yustina had pulled off both at once while waiting for me. And she'd even added the goal of protecting me at the academy, just in case.
"Like I said earlier, I didn't know back then. Not Yustina, not Liwin. I had no clue what either of them was thinking."
"You didn't know then... but you do now?"
"Yeah, I found out much later. Yustina came back saying she was going to found the academy. She's kept her identity hidden from the opening day right up to now, but she told the imperial family, so I knew too."
"She vanished 500 years ago, and the academy's less than 400 years old, so there was a gap in between."
"True, but don't sweat it. It must've taken ages to build because she planned it out meticulously. She studied everything to make it the continent's top academy."
"I see......"
I knew exactly why it had to be the top academy. That way, reincarnated me would be more likely to end up there. Sure enough, if Denebergen Academy had been second- or third-best, my father would've shipped me off somewhere else.
That cleared up Yustina's path, but what I really wanted to know was Liwin's.
"What about Liwin? Where did she go?"
"I learned this later too, but Liwin headed to the Demon Realm with her own goals in mind."
"The Demon Realm......"
"Yeah, we'll get to that story slowly. You need some background first to make sense of it."
I nodded. Elfin veered off into a side story, looping back to her own past.
"So, after leaving the old Drelin lands, I wandered the continent in a daze. Gained some battle experience, met a ton of people. It wasn't that long, though."
"How long?"
"Hmm, about 20 years?"
"That's long......"
"Ahaha, for the record, I didn't go around hooking up with guys?"
Elfin's eyes, which had been listless as she spilled her tale, suddenly sharpened. Like when she'd pushed me to leave the academy and hunt for the resurrection flower—no waver in her gaze.
"That's when I stumbled on info about the resurrection flower. From then on, it was all about bringing you back, Master. Word got around somehow, and the imperial family scouted me......"
"That's when you started with the shadow ops?"
"Nah, at first I bounced around battlefields. That was when the empire was gobbling up the whole continent. I probably smashed a few armies, yeah."
"......Impressive, in all sorts of ways."
She summed it up quick, but I could tell Elfin's 500 years hadn't been smooth sailing. Even from the sketch, it sounded like a tangled, grueling journey. How lonely wandering alone, how much heartache helping the empire for the flower's sake. I knew she was tough on the outside but soft inside, so pity welled up.
"That's how you knew Katarina."
"Yeah, Katarina vanished right when Drelin fell, and I couldn't track her after. Never imagined it'd turn out like this."
"She left right away?"
"Katarina dreamed of building a little house in a quiet forest and living peacefully till she died—no fame or fortune needed. And those demon bastards did that to her......!"
Elfin ground her teeth with a crunch.
To me, Katarina was a resistance comrade. To Elfin, she was precious too. I'd sorted my feelings a bit by now, but I got why Elfin was raging.
Still, I needed answers. I knew next to nothing, and Elfin and Yustina held the keys.
I steeled myself and met Elfin's eyes straight on.
"......Katarina said she got targeted by the 'Last King of Drelin' because she was resistance."
"Uh, yeah...... She even told you that much."
"And that this 'Last King of Drelin' allied with Liwin, targeting Charlotte to rebuild Drelin."
"......"
"You know something about this?"
Elfin went quiet for a beat, weighing whether to spill. Our past-life bonds ran deep, but she was the imperial shadow ops chief now—maybe that held her back. Or maybe she worried it'd drag me into more danger.
"......Fine, I'll tell you. You'd find out anyway."
She rubbed her forehead in resignation.
"Yustina won't get mad?"
"What if she does? That lizard hides too damn much."
"Calling your sister-in-law a lizard? Harsh."
"Hmph, sister-in-law my ass."
Elfin pouted, glancing at me, then sighed.
"First off, I don't know why Charlotte's the target. And if I don't know, the empire doesn't either."
"......Got it."
"Second, yeah, the 'Last King of Drelin' is behind the shady moves in the Demon Realm lately, gunning for Dreline's revival."
"But no clue why Charlotte's key to that."
"Yep. What can you do? If Charlotte won't talk even when asked, we'd have to squeeze it out."
I still couldn't wrap my head around Charlotte hiding some massive secret. We'd lived together over 10 years, and I'd known zilch. But if even the empire and Yustina were in the dark, something huge was buried there.
"And third."
"Liwin stuff?"
"Yeah, it's true Liwin allied with this half-demon claiming to be the 'Last King of Drelin.' She went to the Demon Realm and sealed some deal there."
"She didn't go there just for the deal, right?"
Elfin frowned, tilting her head.
"Hmm, probably not. Her first reason was curiosity about her fellow demons, I bet. Then another goal popped up."
"Another goal? Different from the 'Last King' guy's?"
"Yeah, Liwin's aims don't match his. Rebuilding Drelin? Not her problem at all."
"......So what is she after?"
Bang!
The treatment room door flew open with a racket. A white-haired woman in a pristine white dress glided in—familiar face and all.
Elfin and I shot to our feet, on guard.
"That's far enough, Elfin."
"Yustina......!"
Yustina's sudden arrival cut the talk short. Any other time, fine—but not now. Was she pulling this "protect you no matter what" crap without explaining why again? Didn't I deserve to know by now?
I scowled, and Yustina's face turned wistful.
"......This Yustina shall explain herself. Step back for now."
Her interruption caught me off guard—I'd braced for a total shutdown, but no. Hearing it from Yustina too might even be more reliable than just Elfin. She wasn't denying Elfin's words outright.
"......Whatever."
Elfin bristled at first, ready to snap about the interruption, but Yustina's look deflated her. She'd hidden it to protect me, but now she couldn't anymore—maybe she got that Yustina wanted to take over. Still miffed, she huffed, crossed her arms, and plopped her butt on my old bed.
"You know too, Yustina? What Liwin's up to?"
"......I didn't want to tell you. Lest you throw yourself into danger again, Dane. Like a moth to flame, burning yourself up."
"I get that, but it's time I knew. You blocking me won't stop me from digging elsewhere. You know that."
"Heh, indeed. After 10 years together, how could this Yustina not?"
The tension eased a tad; I smirked and pressed on.
"10 years is a blink for a dragon, no?"
"Hardly."
Yustina answered flatly.
"Those 10 years with thee outshone the 500 without thee."
A mere human lucky to see 100, I struggled to grasp her meaning. Were the 500 years waiting not that long? Or had our 10 years eclipsed half a millennium in her draconic life?
Guessing the latter, I stepped closer.
"Liwin's first goal matches Elfin's there."
"......The resurrection flower?"
"Verily. She's desperate for it in that legendary place called the Flower Garden."
I furrowed my brow—it didn't add up. Liwin could rewind time to revive the dead. Why the flower? And who was she reviving?
Not me, that's for sure.
Elfin said Liwin had zero interest in bringing me back. So her parents from before? Or someone else......
"Liwin wishes to revive the Maou."
"......The Maou?"
Maou out of nowhere? A figure from 1,000—no, 1,500 years ago. Her time magic couldn't rewind that far, sure, but why the Maou?
"Precisely, the Maou and all the 'time mages' besides."
"Time mages?"
"Aye. She seeks to summon every time mage from history back to this era. Ones just like her."
"Why? What's the point of a bunch of time mages?"
I glanced at Elfin. She wore the same bitter look as Yustina.
Noticing, Elfin parted her heavy lips.
"To be straight, all three of us wanted to see you again, Master."
"But Liwin definitely said she had no plans to revive me......"
"Yeah, no revival. But she wanted to see you too, same as us. Just a different approach."
"What do you mean?"
Elfin spoke flatly, word by word.
"Yustina waited endlessly for your soul to reincarnate—body or no."
"......And Liwin?"
"Liwin yearns for the past."
I could only listen, stunned.
"She wants to go back to those days with you."
The puzzle clicked. Liwin, Yustina, Elfin—all craved reunion. But their methods diverged.
Immortal dragon Yustina chose infinite waiting. Shorter-lived elf Elfin hunted revival means. Time mage Liwin......
Yustina spoke up again.
"She'd rewind the world's time itself, back to our cabin days—all four of us."
I turned to her.
"......With her time magic?"
"Aye. But rewinding one soul is one thing; the entire world? Beyond a single time mage."
"So she's reviving past time mages to pull off that impossibility together......"
Elfin and Yustina nodded silently.
Yustina eyed me cautiously first.
"Naturally, success would shatter the world's balance and laws."
My head throbbed, but one question loomed largest.
"......Honestly, I don't get it. Balance, laws... If it's just going back, what's the big deal?"
"'Tis a big deal, hence this Yustina and Elfin strive to stop it, Deneb."
She sighed, taking my hand.
"Liwin dreams not merely of return."
"Then?"
Her small, warm hand enveloped my rough one—unladylike for nobility.
"She'd trap the world in an eternal loop of those 10 years—her happiest time."
"......Eternal?"
"Aye. Shrink existence to a tiny garden, replaying that decade forever."
It hit like a hammer to the skull. Relive those 10 years eternally? Wake, cook, train-play, eat, sleep—day after day? No death, and if aging crept in, reset to 10 years prior? On and on?
"......Impossible. Liwin wouldn't......"
"But 'tis truth, Deneb."
Yustina gazed at me, lips dry, eyes wet.
"This academy would vanish. Dreline's fall—thy triumph—undone. Thy family, friends? Never born. Erased from being."
"She's right. We'd loop those 10 years blindly to Liwin's taste, clueless."
"Aye, dost thou grasp it now? Liwin... Liwin is dangerous, Dane."
She pleaded using my past name.
"Stay in the academy, I beg. Liwin, the Last King... too many threats lurk. Remain safe by this Yustina forever......"
Chaos reigned. No clue how to respond. Hard to swallow. The sweet, kind girl in my memories, chasing that?
"Hold on, Yustina. That's not right."
Elfin wasn't idle. She hopped off the bed, hugged me tight.
"Liwin's dangerous, sure. But not like that."
"......Elfin?"
"We gotta beat her to the resurrection flower! And who knows—she sees your past-life face, maybe she folds!"
Yustina: Stay put, Last King and Liwin are threats.
Elfin: Lead the charge, stop Liwin's plan.
Absent Liwin: Rewind to our past, eternal bliss loop.
"What the hell am I supposed to do......"
I clawed my hair, squeezing my eyes shut.