Chapter 451

“Hmm? What color flower do you like best?”
I lifted my sister’s face, which was buried in a bouquet of flowers. Petals stuck to the bridge of her twitching nose. The bundle of yellow and white daffodils smelled sweetly of early summer.
“Because it’s important.”
I nodded. After a touching reunion, we were having dinner at Nimberton’s cabin. A slanting sunset illuminated the kitchen. My sister had made an unusually large pot of stew, enough for the four of us.
Ronan3 said.
“Of course it’s white, it has to be.”
He was gorging himself on his first potato stew in three years.
I sighed when I realized they were still stubborn.
“Idiot, it’s all in your head.”
“Holy shit–whoops, no.
Ronan3 gritted his teeth. He was trying desperately not to swear, at least not in front of his sister. She was staring at the bouquet, her eyes narrowed.
“Hmmm, that’s hard–I like all things daffodil.”
“Come on, what if I told you to pick one or the other?”
“Just one? Okay, I’m a do-it-yourself girl. If I had to pick just one—!”
She clenched her fists in triumph. But it was only for a moment.
She gulped and clutched her head.
“Ugh, I can’t pick!”
If I had asked him which of the two hostages he would kill, he wouldn’t have gone this far.
She walked with a shuffling step and placed a bunch of daffodils in a pot by the window.
“I like white, I like yellow, I like orange, and they’re all from Ronan, so I can’t pick favorites! What am I supposed to do, huh?”
“Well, if that’s the case, so be it. Don’t push yourself.”
I urged my sister.
I felt like I was going to cry if I pushed it any further, so Ronan3 and I had to call off the stupid bet.
I could see why the three of them had different memories. My sister would have considered the first daffodil she received, no matter what color, to be the most precious treasure in the world.
I felt a sudden wave of self-doubt.
“I left home with this person.
It’s a feeling I’ve felt time and time again, but it comes back to me every time I see my sister.
Ronan3 had a similar thought, and he didn’t look happy.
Suddenly, my sister looked back at me and let out a giggle.
“Ehhhhh, you scared the crap out of me, by the way.”
“Huh?”
“There was one more, so someone did it. But it was the second Ronan, and I almost fainted. Where did you say you were from? The Equilibrium World? The Flat World?”
“Parallel Worlds.”
“That’s right! That’s it!”
My sister clapped her hands together. I only sneaked up and revealed my identity after the reunion of the Cain father and son was over.
My sister, to her credit, listened to my explanation without fainting. I’m not sure she understood it perfectly.
“That’s a little off-putting, isn’t it, all of a sudden there are two big boys.”
“No! On the contrary, I love it. Ronan is Ronan, wherever he comes from. He even writes for me–she’s doubly happy.”
She stroked my head with her magpie claw. Her hands, as calloused as her face, were covered with calluses from working in the fields. A double dose of self-pity stung my heart.
“—That’s great. Me too, sis.”
“Yeah, right, how am I doing over there, am I still living in Nimburton?”
“Oh, that’s not it.”
“Phew! What happened? I love my town so much—!”
“If it’s there, it’s there, I’m married.”
“What, marriage?!”
His sister’s face was as red as an apple. Potato stew spewed out of Ronan3’s mouth. A fierce cough echoed through the kitchen.
“Kollock! Kollock! Kollock! Kollock!”
“Eek, dirty posterior.”
“Ro, Ronan, are you okay?!”
She rushed over and handed him some water. Steam was still rising from the stew scattered across the table.
Cain, who had been focused on the stew for a while, spoke up for the first time in a while.
“This is–I’ve never heard of this before.”
He was slowly stirring my bowl with his spoon. He was acting nonchalant, but his hands were shaking like someone with a fever.
Yes, this was my sister’s father.
“I wonder what kind of son of a bitch–no, what kind of man–dared to take my daughter. Do I know him?”
“You’re going to kill me if I tell you, aren’t you?”
“No way. I’m just asking purely out of curiosity.”
“Pure lie. You probably know, but I can’t tell you in front of my sister, you never know what’s going to happen in this world, but I’ll tell you what, he’s the nicest male I’ve ever met.”
In reality, Schlieffen was a very nice guy. He was a good man, and his family was wealthy to the point of decay. But what I liked most about him was his monomaniacal love for only his sister.
‘If we meet, we’ll connect in this world. Perhaps.’
There was no one else he could have chosen to be his backup. If he had to weigh his sister and the world on a giant scale, Schlieffen would choose her without a second’s hesitation. Cain stared in shock.
“Bam! My, my, I’m really married? Is anyone taking an ugly guy like me?”
His sister cupped her cheeks with both hands, her flushed face almost too adorable, and the look of embarrassment and secret anticipation on her face was tearing Rich Cain’s heart to shreds.
Cain said.
“—Follow me. Only the son from the parallel world.”
“Yes?”
“I’d love to stay and chat a little longer, but I can’t because my stomach is exploding. Let’s get to class.”
Before I could say anything in response. Cain rose from the table and left the hut. Ronan3 was still coughing, clutching his burned throat with a lost look on his face.
****
“Oh, good.”
Cain laughed. The wind was coming from the west and ruffling his hair. After we finished eating, we were at the top of a nearby hill, admiring the view of Nimburton.
“Isn’t it beautiful, this is what I wanted to see the most during my canned life.”
“Ugh. I think I like it.”
I shook my head; this was actually the spot where I had buried my father in the original world. Few hills were high enough to capture the town in a single view. The setting sun, at its peak, set Nimburton ablaze.
“You don’t want to see the sun go down—.”
I muttered, remembering Adeshan’s words. This was the landscape that inspired and fed my auror.
I hadn’t seen a sunset this intense in a long time. The setting sun was reddish and slightly violet in color, sizzling and drawing in the light of the world.
Cain smirked.
“What? What do you mean?”
“It’s no big deal, just talking to myself. I’m glad you seem to be feeling better.”
“That’s loud, I just about forgot.”
Cain clicked his tongue. The look of displeasure was still evident on his face. Even in a parallel universe, a daughter’s marriage was a serious matter.
“I don’t know who it is, but if it’s bad, I won’t let it go. You’ll have to pass this Cain’s test to take her, a very harsh and merciless test.”
“That’s scary—but what did you say you were going to teach me?”
“Yes, I did, and it was because you suddenly started talking nonsense.”
Cain flicked his bangs nervously.
I wanted to tease a bit more, but decided to go all out here.
I said.
“Why don’t you bring your other son? I don’t know what it is, but it’s good to learn together.”
“Because it’s not time yet. He needs to learn from the ground up. Even if we break the curse in the near future, it will take him well over a decade to reach the level I’m teaching him now. ”
“What the hell, ten years?”
“Yeah. It might take longer.”
He didn’t seem to be lying. Tearing his gaze away from the village, Cain turned to face me. All of the sadness in his eyes was gone, replaced by the coolness of a swordsman.
“World.”
Cain said.
“Akasha is the path you must take to defeat the mage.”
“—world?”
“Yeah. I may have gotten away with it, but people will always call it the World. The right to name a new thing belongs to its creator. I just didn’t expect the next person to embody the world to be such a villain.”
“What the heck is that technology doing?”
“I’m going to explain this now. I’ll keep it as simple as possible, because I’m not an academic and you’re not an academic.”
Cain tugged at the hilt. The longsword he had taken from Abel was drawn with an eerie sound, and he twirled it in the air as he spoke.
“The world is the last frontier of Auror, the limit of mana utilization that has been discovered. You do realize that auras are basically manifestations of the user’s mind, right?”
“It’s basic: you mix your natural mana from your body with a unique image.”
“I see. You’re right, even if he only speaks Auror, he’s considered a powerhouse. It’s never easy to let something out, no matter how small. But it’s even harder to embody a world.”
The sword has stopped spinning.
“A world is the deepening of your mental world and its expansion into the concept of space. You invite others into your world, regardless of circumstance or time, and you can accomplish much of what you wish to accomplish there. You can turn the world into a thunderbolt and blow it away, or create a great storm—because it’s all made of you in the first place.”
“You’re practically a god. It’s not easy.”
I chuckled. The absurd power of the Abyss made sense now. Akasha’s magic hadn’t been able to cut through it, because it was on a higher level than all the enemies I’d faced so far.
Cain grunted.
“God–surely you can see it that way.”
“You mean Akasha has already reached that point?”
“That’s the only way I can explain it. Perhaps he’s more enlightened than I am. You’ve made a very difficult enemy indeed, Ronan.”
I was about to say I didn’t make it because I wanted to, but I stopped myself.
Cain’s expression grew more serious.
“Ronan. To be honest, your skills aren’t that great. As far as sophistication goes, it’s nothing to write home about.”
“You’re being harsh.”
“I’m just stating the facts. The reason you’re still able to take them down is simply because you’re stronger than they are, and it’s your way to take them down by sheer force of numbers.”
“—Is that a good thing?”
“Of course. I think it’s best that way, too. You don’t need to use fancy techniques, you just need to be faster and sharper than your opponent. It’s always those who master the moment who achieve lasting feats. You, being much stronger than I am, are already a swordsman who controls the moment.”
The sudden praise gave me goosebumps. I wasn’t a confident person to begin with, but it was awkward to hear this from my father.
But Cain didn’t say it for the praise.
“But the world is different. It is only those who can unfold the world that can break others’ worlds.”
“Do you think I’m ever going to get there?”
“I can’t give you any guarantees, but I’ll give it a shot. I think I’ve said enough theory, so let’s move on to practice.”
Cain shifted the hilt of his blade between his hands. A white glow flickered along the hilt. It was Cain’s own mana, the same mana he had seen in the original world, but something about it was different.
Cain, his longsword held vertically as if in ceremony, spoke in a low voice.
“Take a good look. This is my world.”
A blast of light from the blade engulfed the area.