The Ghost of Time
Deep in the dead of night, Simon climbed the stairs alone.
The 'Circular Staircase' of the Ivory Tower was the only passage connecting one floor to the next. Normally, people used the elevator magic circle installed here rather than walking, but in these late hours it had been shut down.
This place gives me the creeps.
Roaming the tower after hours was forbidden, and a heavy silence hung over everything. The dawn wind slipping through the windows was bitterly cold.
Gathering his robe about him, Simon at last reached the 55th floor.
The documents Kizen headquarters had requested were on this very floor. If anyone caught him here, it would all be over — so he moved with the utmost care.
Step. Step.
But the moment he stepped inside, the silence broke, and once again the voices of people filled the air.
They weren't real people, of course. Day or night, the tower's anomalies carried on without pause.
— Our mages are obsessed with the purity of mana. They simply assume the purer the mana, the greater its effect.
— But mana only achieves true synergy when something is added to it! In our obsession with purity, we may be missing something crucial!
Fitting for the Ivory Tower, many of the scenes were lectures and research —
— This treaty is an unjust treaty!
— We must stand and fight! Rise up!
— and there were historical scenes of commoners revolting as well.
The gray-shaded figures of the past were vividly reenacting themselves as they had been in that era. It was easy to see why archaeologists practically foamed at the mouth for a chance to enter the Tower of Time.
But Simon, deep in a covert mission, had no leisure to admire any of it.
Room 38. Room 38.
He focused on finding it. Lighting a lantern was unthinkable, so instead he had reverse-engineered his 'Night Blindness' curse to produce the opposite effect and cast it on his own eyes.
A curse was still a curse — his eyes felt heavy and gritty. Times like this made him envy the priests' 'blessings', which strengthened the body without any side effects.
...I'm nervous.
He had to watch out not only for Ivory Tower soldiers on patrol, but for the dungeon's monsters — and for Girdon, who was presumably still lurking somewhere in the Tower of Time.
Slip.
Having checked every room along the front wall, Simon turned his head.
I'll have to pass through over there.
Of all places, a temporal 'anomaly' spread across the very corridor he needed to take.
— Forward! Follow the Prince!
— Long live the Dresden Kingdom!
And of all things, it was a scene of war. Soldiers in crude equipment were charging headlong at a black tide of advancing enemies.
Simon scratched his head, wondering how on earth he was going to get past this.
Ugh, I really, really don't want to do this.
Grumbling inwardly, he opened a subspace and drew out a single sword.
Embarrassment lasted only a moment.
He steeled himself, threw back his head, and bellowed with all his might.
"Follow the Prince!"
Then, sword clenched tight, he plunged into the gray currents of history.
— WAAAAAAAH!
The soldiers of the past roared in answer to Simon's cry and raised their weapons. Simon charged alongside them, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Good — I just need to run diagonally and slip out the other side!
— You there!
He had almost made it through when someone called out to him.
Simon turned with an expression of pure dismay — and there stood a young man in full armor, smiling brightly.
— So young to take the field, and already proud of it — yet you raise the morale of the whole host! Magnificent!
Pr-Prince Molly?
This had to be the prince, and his features were the spitting image of Molly's. It was like looking at Princess Molly with only the hair cropped short. He had to be her distant ancestor.
— I hereby appoint you to my Imperial Guard! Join me, and let us crush the imperial dogs together!
Simon gritted his teeth.
Commit. Commit. Commit. Commit.
"It is the honor of my house, Your Highness! I shall destroy those dogs with everything I have!"
— HAHAHAHAHA!
And so Simon was forced to jog in place beside the prince for over twenty minutes.
— The enemy is before us!
— They're coming!
Coming, coming — all talk, and no battle ever broke out. They had simply been running this whole time.
Apparently, the records the Ivory Tower had preserved ended at the charge. The dungeon's anomalies couldn't recreate a past that had never been recorded.
"Your Highness!"
Simon wracked his brain for a fresh excuse.
"My father is, in truth, with the western formation! I wish to go and save him!"
— You followed your own father onto the field of war! What paragon of loyalty and filial devotion you are!
The prince nodded, deeply moved.
— Say no more. Good fortune go with you!
"Thank you! Glory to the Dresden Kingdom!"
Simon shouted it as he sprinted away, and at last broke free of the gray history. The instant he was out, he dropped to the floor and buried his burning face in his arms.
...S-so embarrassing.
Thank goodness no one had been watching.
Simon gathered his composure and moved on. The thought that he would have to do the whole thing over again on the way back made him dizzy for a moment — but he had to hurry before daybreak.
Fortunately, his destination wasn't far.
A room at the end of the corridor, just past the anomaly. That was Room 38.
— Tzzzzzzzz.
!
Just then, the distinctive cry of a Tower of Time monster rang out.
Is it close by?
A chill ran down Simon's spine as he stared at the handle of Room 38's door.
I-I should just get inside first...
[I wouldn't touch that, if I were you.]
The blood drained from Simon's face. He whipped around, dark energy already flaring in his hands.
[Good evening!]
Someone was there.
A short man wearing a rabbit mask over his face. His entire body was blurred and flickering with static.
A being born of the anomalies!
Thankfully, he was no Ivory Tower guard.
Simon let out an inward sigh of relief and forced a smile.
"Ah — hello there."
Which historical figure might this one be?
He had no background information at the moment, but just as he had managed the prince, he decided to simply open with something — anything.
"It's been far too long, sir! I trust you've been well?"
The rabbit mask chuckled and gave the staff in his hand a lazy twirl.
[This is the first time we've met. Why are you talking as though we know each other?]
"R-right, of course."
[You're an amusing young one, aren't you?]
Tormented by a prince who looked like Molly, and now a rabbit mask.
This mission is way too hard. Still smiling, Simon pressed on.
"What are you doing here?"
First things first — he needed to learn who this man was.
[Not much of an interesting topic, that.]
But the rabbit mask slipped nimbly out of reach. Simon restrained himself and asked again.
"Then what would be interesting to—"
[Shall I guess what you're doing here?]
The rabbit mask's mouth stretched into a long, unnatural grin.
[A boy from Kizen. You've come to dig up the Ivory Tower's secrets, haven't you?]
Fwoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Simon had drawn a Chaos Spear from his side, its point leveled at the stranger.
"...Who are you? You're no mere anomaly."
[A sharp eye you have.]
So saying, the rabbit mask clasped his hands behind his back and began to walk. Simon shifted his grip, keeping the spearpoint trained on him.
[It's true that I, too, exist as one of the dungeon's anomalies — but I'm of a categorically different quality from those fools chattering away over there.]
"..."
Simon was confused.
Every human conjured by the tower's anomalies was a fiction that had never existed. The moment one of them realized its own unreality — that the world around it was fake — it went berserk and attacked the humans nearby, just like the monsters did.
Yet this rabbit mask knew his own nature and had not turned into a monster. What was more, he knew exactly who Simon was.
[Might you put that frightening thing away? I did just save your neck, after all.]
The rabbit mask spoke with languid ease. Simon's eyes hardened.
"...Saved me?"
[If you had pulled open the door to Room 38—]
He pointed a fingertip at the wall.
[— a security spell would have activated. You'd have been shocked unconscious by the lightning, and the Ivory Tower guards would have come swarming straight here.]
"...!"
[See for yourself.]
Skeptical, but keeping his spear trained on the man, Simon swept his eyes across the wall.
!
It was really there.
Hidden in a concealment color identical to the wall itself, like a chameleon — but it was unmistakably a magic circle.
[I was right, wasn't I? The equations would be difficult even for a student like you.]
The rabbit mask stirred his hand as though performing a conjurer's trick.
[Allow me.]
At his gesture, the circle's outline visibly loosened — then dispersed entirely into the ambient mana and vanished.
[I accelerated the magic circle's time, letting its duration run out so it unraveled on its own.]
Only then did Simon lower his spear.
"Who are you?"
[Heh heh heh! Call me the Ghost of Time!]
He bowed at the waist once more, with the grace of a gentleman.
[Shall we go inside and talk?]
The Ghost of Time.
Whether he was enemy or ally remained unclear.
But if Simon had flung open the door to Room 38 in alarm at the monster's cry, the Ivory Tower would have caught him red-handed. Whatever else was true, one thing was certain: at that moment, the man had saved him.
The two entered Room 38.
It was a storeroom, long since fallen out of use. Evidently even the Festival of Time hadn't called for cleaning this far up — cobwebs hung thick in every corner, and dust lay undisturbed over everything.
[Go on, make yourself comfortable.]
So said the rabbit mask, who had introduced himself as the Ghost of Time. Simon regarded him steadily.
"Before that — I'd like a clearer answer on exactly who you are."
Yes, the man had helped him undo the magic circle. But it could still be a trap.
For all Simon knew, the man was only pretending to help, waiting to catch him with decisive evidence and seize him.
[Quite the suspicious nature. I like it.]
The man tilted slowly backward — and his body floated up, drifting freely in midair.
[You know of the Dungeon Gate incident that struck the Ivory Tower three hundred years ago?]
"Of course."
[I'm a man of that era myself.]
Oh ho.
Simon's eyes filled with curiosity.
"What were you doing when the Gate incident happened?"
[At that moment—]
The Ghost of Time raised his voice grandly.
[—I was riding in a time machine!]
The expression on Simon's face, which had been rapt with attention, went stone cold.
"...Ah. Yes. A time machine."
[What's with that reaction! Well, regardless — time magic research was all the rage at the Ivory Tower back then, and I myself had invented a special artifact called a time machine.]
That's... impressive. Simon answered halfheartedly.
[But my colleagues treated me like a fool and threw all their weight behind the magic project led by the Tower Master. So to prove my achievement, I climbed into the time machine myself! And THEN—]
The Ghost of Time slammed his staff against the floor.
[—of all the cursed timings, that was when the Dungeon Gate opened!]
The dungeon that had opened atop the Ivory Tower's highest floor swallowed whole every discipline of time magic the Tower had been developing. And the man, sitting in his time machine at that very moment, was no exception.
[And that is how this most interesting phenomenon came to be.]
He chuckled and spread both arms wide.
[I am, without question, a being born of the dungeon's anomalies — yet I can think and judge for myself! And thanks to the time machine's influence, I gained the ability to see the 'time' that flows through this tower. A being like me exists nowhere else in all the world!]
Simon crossed his arms.
"Isn't existing forever kind of a torment?"
[Not remotely! That's just an illusion held by those shackled to the burden of a body!]
He gazed up at the ceiling, transported.
[I've escaped the limits of a lifespan, and now I spend eternity musing on whatever subjects catch my fancy! I don't reveal myself to the people here, but now and then I leave my research findings by the window. And you know what one of them did? Came back every single day to take them, registered the work as his own research, and climbed his way to the very top of the Ivory Tower! Ah well — such is life! HAHAHA!]
As the conversation kept wandering off the rails, Simon hauled it back on course.
"If you're sealed inside this tower forever, how did you know I came here to dig up the Ivory Tower's secrets?"
[Didn't I tell you? I can see time. From the moment you set foot in this tower until the moment you leave it — I can see all of your time.]
Seeing time.
It was an alien concept.
[It's plain as day to my eyes. Today you'll operate a certain 'artifact' on the 55th floor to obtain your information, and tomorrow you'll head to the 63rd.]
"...!"
It was exactly right.
Which floors he would visit — even the nature of an 'artifact' Simon hadn't yet laid eyes on. The man even knew that when Simon returned to his lodgings after finishing the mission, he'd face the curses of a girl who talked in her sleep.
"...Is this some kind of prophecy?"
[Tsk, prophecy! What humans call past, present, and future are nothing but fictional concepts — crutches for creatures who can't perceive four-dimensional spacetime! In truth, time stretches out infinitely!]
What is this man even saying? Simon pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Never mind the difficult concepts. I understand you can see my future inside the tower. So what exactly is your goal?"
After a brief silence, the rabbit mask spoke, his voice gone taut.
[The truth is, from a certain point onward, the future of this 'tower' vanished from my sight.]
"...What?"
[The tower's time has turned pitch black. I can't see through it at all! And that can only mean one thing — something terrible is about to happen to the Tower of Time! I'd stake my existence that the Ivory Tower Master is brewing some sinister scheme with this tower!]
Simon's expression turned grave as well.
"When — when does this unseen future begin?"
The rabbit mask spread out his fingers.
[Four days from now.]
Simon's mouth fell open.
Four days from this very moment would be the final day of Simon's dispatch to the Ivory Tower.
[Very soon now, something dreadful is going to happen to this tower.]