Chapter 466

Chapter 466

“Okay, let’s try this crap.”
Akasha jumped out of Ronan’s arms.
She walked with a shuffling gait and tapped Asel on the shoulder.
“Maternal grandfather.”
“Okay Akasha—whoa, are you leaving right now?”
He sat there, as exhausted as the other wizards. It was a side effect of dabbling in time magic.
Akasha whimpered.
“Yeah. I just wanted to check in for the last time. I’ve read a lot, but I’m still a little nervous.”
She rummaged in her inside pocket and pulled out a small book.
On the cover, which had become tattered with age, was the straightforward title, “My Great Adventure in Parallel Worlds. It was a paperback copy of a story Ronan had written for her.
Akasha flipped through the book, then spoke.
“First and foremost–gather the life force from each of the parallel worlds, destroying only the one in the first parallel world, because it’s too damaged to be restored.”
“Yes. It’s a necessary choice if we’re to restore the ecosystem. It was the only parallel world that was ever colonized by giants.”
“You said you weren’t going to disappear completely, right?”
“That’s right, and rest assured, I’ve cross-checked this with Ceniel himself. Star spirits don’t die unless a planet is physically destroyed, and in time, by the time civilization is reestablished, there will be another rock to call Senniel.”
“Phew, that’s a relief to hear you say that.”
Akasha breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to embark on an unprecedented adventure in a few moments, and she couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
The position is Villain.
It was the worst of the big bads, with the grandiose title of “scourge from the future.
Her mission was threefold.
First. To exterminate the giants of all parallel worlds with Ronan from the past.
Second. Create a magic tool that can rewind time four times and give it to Ronan.
Third. Never reveal your identity while the mission is in progress.
It had to work. If any of them failed, the entire history would collapse.
The basis for this crazy operation was a book Ronan had written for his granddaughter, My Great Adventure in Parallel Worlds.
Akasha had loved the book, rereading it over and over again as she empathized with the villain who shared her name.
Then, at the age of five, while playing in the garden, Akasha awakened to her ability to travel to and from parallel worlds like a novel. The book’s status as a mere novel was elevated to that of an unprecedented prophecy.
‘I was really surprised at first. He had the same abilities as the villain in the novel.’
There were four parallel worlds in total. Conditions were largely consistent with the novel. The world that Adeshan had abandoned in his return, and its people, were diligently working toward an unhappy ending.
Akasha told her family.
After a long debate, the intellects of the century came to a shocking conclusion. If parallel worlds were left untouched, the world we live in today could not exist.
Ronan receives the orb from a warlord who has regressed three times and regresses. It is Ronan who gives the orb to the Great General, who has not experienced regression, after traveling to a parallel world. And it was his granddaughter Akasha who helped Ronan obtain the orb of regression.
Contradictory as it may seem, this cycle is what allows peace to exist today. If we ignore the situation in the parallel world, this cycle will not begin. But naturally, questions arise.
Why did Ronan have to go, especially when he was about to propose?
Why didn’t Akasha solve the problem on her own, even though she was capable?
Is it possible for the past to change because of something that happened in the future in the first place?
Questions that don’t have a straightforward answer.
Asel gave this strange phenomenon a name: the time paradox.
“We’ll probably never know the answer.
The problem had to be solved anyway. No one wanted to lose their lives.
After much deliberation, they decided to fulfill the so-called “self-fulfilling prophecy”. Creepily, by this time, humanity was able to recreate most of what happened in Ronan’s novel.
Akasha dried her face and opened her mouth.
“A bead to turn back time. I’m sure I can make one, right?”
“You’ll do fine, you’ve run the simulation hundreds of times and never had an error, you’re the only person on the planet who can do it in the first place.”
“I feel sorry for you, Ceniel, because according to the novel, you’re supposed to destroy almost everything.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. The only energy powerful enough to power time magic is currently the soul of a star. It took an enormous amount of life force just to send Sarante back in time for a moment, and it would take an incomparably greater amount of life force to rewind the world four times. No matter how I calculated it, there was no way to do it.”
“Well, I guess I can’t help it then, I’ll give it a good try, even though I’ll probably get punished.”
“You will be forgiven, for the Star Spirits are merciful, and after today, the time magic will be sealed forever, so you will no longer incur their wrath—hmmmm, and Akasha?”
Asel coughed in vain.
Akasha smirked at the way he stuttered after so long.
“What?”
“That–a personal favor, please don’t bother me too much in the parallel world. I was very timid in my younger days—I’m a little embarrassed to think you’ll meet me.”
“Eh, why would I bully my maternal grandfather for my own good, I wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Isn’t that right, my granddaughter is such a good girl—”
“I might play a little prank.”
“Now, are you kidding?”
“Yes. Grandpa Asel is so cute, he’s still my age, honestly.”
Akasha poked Asel in the cheek, his face turning pale.
Freed from the shackles of time, he still retained the appearance of a young man. Compared to Marja, who had become an elegant noblewoman, it was a big difference.
“Oh. What about Grandma Marja?”
“We’re training again today, Jaifa is in charge.”
“You’re really thinking about breaking the time barrier.”
“There you go. Though it doesn’t look easy.”
Asel smiled. It was a smile that looked a little sad. Unlike himself and Ronan, who had escaped the bounds of aging, Marja was still growing old. Unless she could attain the state of transmutation, she would have to accept her mortal fate.
Akasha said.
“You’re going to make it.”
“I think so, too. If Marja fails, I’ll have to accept the passage of time.”
“You’re giving up immortality?”
“That’s—ick, I shouldn’t have said that.”
Asel covered his mouth with his hand.
“Don’t worry, Akasha. Marja would never give up. Even if the transformation fails, there are plenty of ways to live a long life, like becoming a vampire like Braum.”
“Oh, you mean the Northern Changeling, but my grandfather once said something similar.”
“Huh?”
“I overheard a conversation between the two of you, and she asked me what I would do if she got old and died, and I casually replied that I would live for three more days and then die, because what fun would it be without you—.”
I remembered the story clearly, even though it was from my snoring days.
The three days’ reprieve gave him time to weep over his wife’s burial. Ronan’s words that he would follow her when her tears were dry made the young Akasha burst into tears.
“I still remember, my grandfather tried to talk me out of it, saying it was a joke, but he wasn’t lying.”
“Ronan would, because he loves his sister Adeshan so much.”
“Yeah. That’s not going to happen anymore.”
Akasha smiled. Adeshan had defeated aging three years ago.
The blessing of reversing time is not just for swordsmen and wizards, however; her bone-crunching efforts have brought her to the peak of her shadow mana, allowing her, like her husband, to live in perpetual youth.
Akasha thanks Asel and returns to Ronan.
“Grandpa, I’m going to go now.”
“Damn, you’re really going. Do you want me to help you get dressed?”
“It’s okay, they’re so well made that it’s easy to change.”
Ronan held Adeshan’s hand as they prepared to see Akasha off.
His piercing eyes were filled with concern.
I knew I had to do it, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my sweet granddaughter.
Knowing that you’ll be battling your past self throughout the mission.
Akasha, wearing a special suit, snapped her fingers.
“Oh, by the way, I have a question.”
“Any questions?”
“Yes. Why did it have to be then? If you had sent Mr. Sarante a little further into the future, a much stronger grandfather could have handled the situation.”
“A time paradox. That doesn’t explain the story in the first place.”
“I’m still curious, though, because I think the reason Sarante went to that point in time is just to keep history from changing, and he’s just copying from the book, but it occurred to me that Grandpa might be the only one who knows the answer, because if he were to write a book about what’s happening now, his part would be the first sentence.”
“That makes sense. Let’s see.”
Ronan waggled his eyebrows at the pointed question.
Akasha was right. Compared to what he’s accomplished now, the Ronan of old was a child, a monkey with a sword.
Why now?
Why did the future me, and the present me, choose the day before the proposal as a fateful turning point?
It didn’t take long for the silence to be broken.
Ronan scratched the back of his head, then spoke up.
“Probably because it’s the best time to get screwed over.”
“Is that ——?”
“Achievement is always buried at the end of hardship. That’s life in general. The sweetness of joy is best tasted after a bitter pill has been chewed and swallowed.”
Akasha narrowed her eyes. It was hard to understand.
What the hell is this guy who was just correcting me talking about?
Ronan didn’t seem to mind.
“Looking back, I had a lot on my mind at the time. I had somehow saved the world, but new problems arose. Adeshan was pregnant with your father, my stupid brain was too busy trying to think of a proposal to worry about the existence of the parallel world, and then Sarante showed up and asked me to save the future. Imagine my embarrassment.”
Ronan smirked. Even now, it felt like a dream.
I was just as much inwardly torn as I was about my destiny to save the world.
“I think that’s why I was sent back to that time, when I was weak and cocky and wanted so much, when I had the most to gain from overcoming all the hardships that were screwing me over. It was during that time that I realized how much I love my wife, how beautiful the world we live in–the adventure of changing the ending of the abandoned parallel worlds had as much impact on my life as the regression. Sunrise. So it was during that adventure that I realized the world.”
“Uh, well, let me put it this way—when you went through something dramatic, that’s when you were most likely to be pissed off?”
“My granddaughter has good hair, after all. But do you call it a mulberry these days?”
“It’s kind of a dated buzzword, actually.”
“It’s not easy–but you’re right. I felt a lethal dose of mulberry at the end of the whole journey, and I’ve been using that emotion to fuel my life, which is why that novel and who I am today.”
Ronan nodded. If the timing of his adventures had been different, he would not have written the book.
Lance may have been born, but it is unknown how he was connected to Sechika. He might have been connected to Aria by a minor change, or he might have remained single for the rest of his life.
Even if Akasha is born against all odds, she doesn’t know what the future holds because she doesn’t have the book. Nor will she have the opportunity to awaken to learn how to open the rift that leads to the parallel world. Even if she did, it would be much later. Naturally, history would have been different than it is now.
However, these are all meaningless assumptions.
It was Akasha who put me in touch with the Warlord in the first place.
Time paradoxes are a terrible topic. It just doesn’t make sense and it’s complicated.
However, there was one thing I could be sure of, cutting through all the other complications.
Ronan said.
“Akasha. My conclusion is that we were just meant to be like this.”
“Grandpa.”
“That’s good enough, you don’t have to understand it perfectly, and you probably won’t when you get in there, and if you make a mistake that’s not your intention, it’ll be something that happened to me, and if you’re so nervous you shit your pants, I won’t notice, because I don’t remember that.”
“I’m not tired. Something like that.”
Akasha stuck her tongue out.
Her special suit now transformed her into a monster over three meters tall. She hadn’t yet put on her mask, so her white face floated in the air. Before long, people had gathered to see her off.
Ronan said, looking up at his granddaughter.
“Now, go punch that kid who’s trying to use a knife to install it.”
“Whoa—do you think I can do that? No matter how much I’ve practiced, how can I— my grandfather.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m a lot better than you think I am.”
Ronan interrupted firmly.
I still sometimes have nightmares about being beaten up by Akasha in a parallel world.
The last punch in particular would have killed him instantly had it not been for Ceniel’s shrapnel.
“What if I lose to Grandpa along the way?”
“That’s not going to happen. I don’t know about now, but my skills back then were not as good as your toes, and I know this for sure, because I’m the one who taught my granddaughter to fight.”
“I guess that’s the way it is, but the magic has evolved so much over time.”
“Of course not. The fact that your magic isn’t working is enough to freak them out, and so are the Aurors. If you feel like getting cocky, you can eat that horrible world.”
Ronan chuckled. Akasha’s magic, which he had trained himself, was not weak enough to be cut by his former self. Though she would improve as her adventures in the parallel world prolonged.
Akasha clenched her fists.
“Yeah. I’ll use that one out of spite, considering you’ve been so good at changing the landscape of the world—.”
“It can’t be helped. It breaks the blue-sky image of the Big Bad, and it’s best to face him in the Abyss to avoid giving him away.”
“That’s what I think, too. Oh, and what about that woman in the first world, Letancie? According to the book, I’m supposed to kill her.”
“Flying squirrel–if it looks good, don’t kill it, just cut it off at the top of the leg and toss it somewhere. Mrs. Navarrozze is alive and well, she’ll put it back together herself.”
“That sounds good.”
Akasha nodded.
It was only then that Ronan realized that Letancier from the first parallel world was not dead.
Now it was really time to leave. Everyone in the room gave her a hug.
Ronan tossed something to Akasha, who took one last deep breath.
“Here, take it.”
“What?!”
Long, stubby fingers grasped it. Akasha’s eyes widened.
Ronan handed over the final piece of the suit, the mask. Not only was it durable and comfortable, but it also had the ability to modulate his every word into a villainous scream.
Akasha shook her head as she admired the mask.
“Huh? What’s got so much stuck?”
“It’s everybody’s wish–a provocation and a wish for you to succeed, because if you fail, it’s all over.”
The masks Akasha would wear would be adorned with the emblems of prominent organizations and individuals.
The Dawn Tower and Full Moon Tower, the Imperial Knights, and the Twilight Tower crest of Lorhon in the center.
It had been torn and glued together by those who cooperated in the operation, and it looked like the loot of the kill. It was a bit cheesy, but it worked because it made Ronan think back to his past encounter with Akasha.
Akasha smirked.
“Don’t worry. You’re going to make it.”
“I know. Just make sure you come back and rest when you’re tired, because you can always come back.”
“Yes, bye, Grandpa.”
Leaning down, Akasha kissed Ronan’s cheek.
Cheers for success shook the plaza.
She waved to everyone and then turned her mask around.
『■■■■■■■!』
A bizarre modulation sounded.
Akasha snapped her fingers, and space ripped apart, revealing a massive crack.
Blood-red waves were crashing on a white sandy beach. It was the first parallel world to be taken over by the giant. Akasha leapt into the rift without looking back.
“『■■!
The crack is closed.
Out of all the people, Ronan is the only one smiling.
He already knew Akasha would be successful.
****
That’s the end of the story.
However, it wasn’t a full stop.
The magic of time has been sealed forever. No more regressions or anything like that. This is the last time we’ll be traveling to parallel worlds, Akasha nailed it.
When Akasha returns with the cord, the future will be unpredictable again.
“You like me—.”
I muttered, shoving my hands in my pockets.
There was a loneliness in the mostly deserted plaza. Only a few people, including me and Adeshan, remained, wandering around like wild dogs. I was worried about my granddaughter, but perhaps most of them were too anxious to go home, too worried about the future.
‘It’s ridiculous, all it took was one person to travel a few minutes into the past, and now they’re bitching about not being able to do it.
The reason people were nervous was simple.
The fact that he controlled time, if only for a moment, made him forget the horrors of the unknown future. It gave him hope that if he did commit an irreparable sin, he would be saved by those from the future or the past.
But contrary to expectations, the parties had no further intention of interfering with time and parallel worlds. Our world and the four parallel worlds had a happy ending, and if they wanted something more, they had to do it on their own.
Like it or not, destiny will move on. Toward the uncharted waters of ruin.
“It’s not going to be easy.
Of course, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.
Uncertainty will often screw us over. We will be saddened, bewildered, frightened, and even weep at unexpected misfortunes. One day, invaders worse than winged bald men may tear through the sky.
But that’s okay. We’ll just have to fight through it like we always have.
The ecstasy of accomplishment is always buried at the end of hardship, and the sweetest moments are the ones right after you’ve swallowed the bitter pill down your throat.
Starry-eyed Adeshan pointed his index finger at the sky.
“Honey. Look at that.”
“Huh?”
I looked up. The twilight sky stretched out like a gazetteer.
The purple melting sunset was signaling the end of day and the beginning of night. The breeze that flipped my bangs carried the scent of wildflowers.
It was a view I’d always seen, but that made it all the more beautiful.
You’d think I saved the world just to see this.
“Yeah. It’s killing me.”
“I’m glad it’s not raining, it’s a perfect day to see you off.”
Adeshan leaned his head on my shoulder.
The weather forecast for a downpour of rain was beautifully missed.
I smirked and shouted to the heavens.
“Sita!”
“Cheeks?!”
Sita landed in front of us, furious.
I hugged Adeshan like a princess and climbed on Sita’s back.
Almost simultaneously, Sita soared into the sky. A drive for the ages. Her long tail and wings spread out in a straight line, and in an instant, the world shrank.
“Go, what are you doing?!”
“It’s a beautiful day, I’ll see you higher up.”
“Anyway, you’re a—.”
Adeshan smirked. He was puzzled, but didn’t seem to dislike it.
Her long, dark hair flowed in flowing waves. Her face, unchanged from the day she accepted my proposal, was flushed red in the sunset. She was beautiful. We kissed, not knowing who came first. As we pulled our faces apart, I could see the sun sinking over the horizon. The city that covered the land was slowly coming to life.
Then, an object I’d never seen before caught my eye.
“Is that—?”
It was on the west side of the archipelago. It was dark against the falling tide.
Three huge objects that looked like paper airplanes were soaring, dragging white tails. They glowed brightly, like stars returning to the sky.
Adeshan raised an eyebrow.
“It’s a star ship, and after all that fussing, they shot it.”
“Oh, was that today?”
“Uh-huh. I think I said the first stop was the moon.”
You’ve heard it before.
The Ship of Stars was built using clues from the ruins of ancient Dainhar.
It was a daily battle between the naysayers, who wanted to join the ranks of the bald giants, and the proponents, who felt that having wings and not flying was an affront to the heavens.
From the looks of it, the proponents had won. The ship’s presence was part of the reason Akasha’s parallel-world operation had been kept so perfectly secret.
I didn’t expect it to be this fast, by the way.
We were vaguely thinking that we could go to another star someday, but—.
“Yeah, that’s what it’s all about.
One corner of his mouth turned up.
Maybe the future has already begun.
The contrails ending the sunset were beautiful.
As I stared blankly at the star ship, a little bit of the main voice slipped through my lips.
“Go. Akasha.”
You never know what tomorrow will bring, and that’s what makes it exciting.
I was willing to smile and wait.