Chapter 331 - To the Future (1)

Sunlight and a cool breeze filtered through the window bars. As I washed down grilled meat from the shop across the street with rum, a sigh of appreciation escaped me.

“Ahh, now this is the life.”

How long had it been since I’d enjoyed an ordinary day like this? Maybe it was because I’d spent months in dreary Noark, but the contrast made it absurdly satisfying. Not that I had nothing to worry about, of course.

‘Still... it’s already been a week.’

Auriel Gabis, Luhenpraha, Jerome the Knight of Light. That much time had passed since that frantic day when all sorts of big shots came popping out of the woodwork.

And...

“Whew.”

I was still stuck in this era.

“When am I ever going to be able to use this thing?”

I took out the Stone Fragment of Records and fiddled with it out of habit, grumbling, but there were advantages to having bought myself some time. At least I had a chance to sell off the equipment.

‘And I have a few guesses about why this thing still won’t respond...’

Anyway, for those reasons, we decided to take a break for a while and rented a room on the surface.

Oh, and yes, just one room. I’d wanted to get two, but Amelia had chided me, asking what the point would be at this stage... and honestly, she had me convinced. Hadn’t we spent months practically joined at the hip down below? It was far too late to start fussing over propriety between men and women.

“Drinking again...?”

“Oh, you’re back.”

“I believe I told you to keep the door locked while I was out?”

Amelia entered the room and tossed her outerwear onto the coat rack with practiced ease.

I didn’t bother asking where she’d been since dawn. It was obvious. She must have been secretly stalking her sister again to check that she was doing well.

“You’ve barely walked in and you’re already nagging.”

“I’m not nagging...”

I quickly changed the subject.

“So, how’s Laura?”

Perhaps because of the potent effects of the Lete’s Blessing prototype, Laura had only woken up three days ago. A priest volunteering at the shelter had diagnosed her with amnesia, and she’d come to believe that the name on the identity tag in her possession was her own...

“Not Laura. Shannon Ellaura.”

“Ah, right.”

For the record, Shannon Ellaura was a new identity we’d arranged. We’d felt a little uneasy about using the identity tag that old geezer had provided. Amelia had gone to quite some trouble obtaining a new tag in a single day, swapping it for the one in the patient’s belongings box, and revising every relevant patient record at the shelter.

“So, how is she doing?”

“Unfortunately, she seems to have caught the attention of a volunteer priest. Today she started learning to read for the first time, and she progressed remarkably quickly. The priest seems to think that means her memories are returning...”

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

“That isn’t what worries me. It’s simply troubling that she’s drawn the attention of someone from the Church.”

At first, I wondered what she meant, but I soon understood.

“Because of her Essences?”

“Yes. A child who isn’t even an adult possessing Essences would look suspicious.”

Left alone, she’d probably go her entire life without realizing that the power of Essences resided in her body. Her stats could be explained away as naturally good health, and without her memories, she’d never be able to activate her Abilities.

But...

“Yeah, that makes me a little nervous, too. Of all people, she had to catch a volunteer priest’s eye.”

Things would be different if she lived a life closely tied to the Church. Since they possessed the divine power to remove Essences, there was a chance they would discover hers.

“... Memory loss is rare, so I suppose she attracted unexpected interest.”

“What are you going to do now, then?”

“What can I do? It isn’t as if I can force them apart.”

Amelia smacked her lips bitterly and said she would simply keep watching for now. I agreed.

And that wrapped up that subject.

“By the way, isn’t it about time you changed the way you talk?”

As I casually broached the subject, Amelia gave me a wary look.

“... The way I talk?”

“Aren’t you a little stiff for someone talking to a companion?”

“Companion?”

“Why do you look like this is the first you’ve heard of it? Don’t tell me you’re going to claim you forgot your promise to me—”

“No, I remember. I just... wondered what that had to do with my manner of speaking.”

“Well, nothing, really. I was just curious what you’d sound like talking differently.”

“... What?”

Amelia stared at me as if I were utterly pathetic, then let out a deep sigh.

“You... honestly...”

“What? Can’t I be curious? Hearing you as a kid, it doesn’t seem like you always talked this way.”

“That’s...”

She trailed off.

That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected. In the past, she would have simply ignored me or demanded, stone-faced, to know if I was mocking her.

“I shall endeavor to change my manner of speaking.”

“Huh?”

“No, I’ll... try. Will that suffice? No, is that... okay?”

Okay? How was any of this okay?

It genuinely gave me goosebumps. While I sat there speechless, she continued.

“Hmm... Perhaps ‘Is that all right?’ sounds gentler than ‘Is that okay?’ Which do you think is better?”

Amelia had begun seriously contemplating her speech patterns.

“W-wait. Aren’t you being a little too quick to change how you talk?”

“You were the one who told me to change it, Jandel.”

“Well, yeah, but still.”

“Don’t misunderstand. It’s something I’ve been considering myself lately.”

“You’ve been considering it?”

“... My sister would certainly have wanted me to. And since you brought it up as well, there must really have been something wrong with me.”

Ah...

‘I was just joking around before getting down to business because the mood was so gloomy.’

I hurried to fix things before it was too late.

“On second thought, I don’t think you need to force yourself to change it. What does the way you talk matter? Yeah, it’s who you are inside that counts.”

Amelia was lukewarm about that at first, too, but she nodded when I told her she could trust the judgment of someone who’d fallen for Misha.

“So the two of you really did have that sort of relationship.”

“Ah...”

Why had I said that? I hadn’t told anyone about it.

“Hmm. Given that you never found fault with her way of speaking, I suppose you aren’t merely saying that. Very well. I’ll put this matter on hold for now.”

“... Yeah. Good thinking.”

The conversation had gotten rather uncomfortable for me, so I hurried to the business I should have brought up earlier.

“Anyway, now that we’ve both had enough rest, I thought we could have a proper talk.”

“A talk... Very well.”

Amelia sat in the chair across from me, and we began the meeting we’d spent a week putting off in the name of rest.

* * *

The first item on the agenda was this.

“Are you really not connected to the Rose Knight Order?”

“I’m not. And didn’t we settle that already?”

I’d learned afterward that Luhenpraha had pursued Amelia so relentlessly because he believed she belonged to that group. He seemed to have some grudge against them that wasn’t publicly known...

[“Because I’ll be able to show you what it feels like to lose someone.”]

Given that he’d said that back then, I suspected he’d lost someone dear to him because of them. Though that wasn’t the important part.

“But why bring this up again?”

We’d dismissed it as a strange coincidence at the time, but as I thought it over, another possibility had occurred to me.

“You said you learned Aura from a woman you happened to meet at Noark Castle, right?”

“Yes. She said she liked the look in my eyes and taught me a few things. Of course, she only laid the groundwork. It was much later that I awakened my Aura. But... didn’t we discuss this before as well?”

“We did.”

At the time, we’d concluded that the woman must have been a member of the Rose Knight Order.

But...

“Is there any chance that woman was you?”

“... What?”

“It just occurred to me. Why would a woman you barely knew do you a favor like that?”

Amelia, who’d been perceptive even as a little girl, understood exactly what I meant this time, too.

“Don’t tell me you think that’s the task we have left?”

“Yeah.”

Laying the groundwork for Aura for Youngmelia, who was now all alone in the world. That might be our remaining assignment.

However...

“Don’t worry. That won’t be it.”

Amelia firmly rejected the possibility. I asked her for a reason, but she merely said I could trust her on this and offered no lengthy explanation.

‘If she’s this adamant, I probably really am wrong...’

If so, that was good news for me. Following the original course of history would mean staying here for another two years.

“Then let’s move on to the next item.”

The second subject was Auriel Gabis. What sort of variable would that utterly suspicious old man become in the future? We discussed that for quite some time, and it ended with little to show for it beyond me getting scolded.

“Why did you do something so dangerous, anyway? You could have parted on good terms.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying I should have shown him my face and told him my name?”

“Even if you didn’t, there was no need to taunt him at the end.”

“Ah...”

She had a point. It had felt great at the time, but thinking of how the old man must have seethed afterward did send a little chill down my spine.

“You’re fine in every other respect, but you need to be more careful about what you say and do.”

“... Understood.”

“Since you understand, I won’t say any more... but be careful. When I agreed to become your companion, I meant I was entrusting my life to you.”

I was deeply grateful for that resolve, which seemed to go beyond mere trust.

‘... But didn’t she just say she wouldn’t say any more?’

“Ahem.”

I cleared my throat to end the subject and moved on to the next item—the very heart of this meeting.

How could we activate the Stone Fragment of Records?

“More specifically, I thought we could discuss exactly what assignment we’ve been given...”

“You sound as if you have something in mind.”

Of course. Did she think I’d brought this up without thinking? Besides laying the groundwork for Youngmelia’s Aura two years from now, I had several other candidates.

The first was this.

“The Six Treasures...?”

Amelia tilted her head the moment I mentioned the Six Treasures, but we couldn’t rule it out. Sure, there was no way I would be the one stealing the Six Treasures twenty years from now... but perhaps I would become involved in that incident in some small way.

Like the whole ‘barbarian’s heart’ affair, for example. The outcome might come much later, but I could be the one who set it in motion.

“True, you said the Six Treasures were particularly important to evil spirits. From that perspective, it does make sense. You’re an evil spirit your—”

“Tss.”

“Ah, my mistake. You told me not to mention that.”

It was a sensitive issue for me, but Amelia immediately apologized, so I let her off with a yellow card.

Now, on to the second possibility.

“GM... That was the epithet of the person who took over the gathering from Auriel Gabis, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“But why that person?”

“Because this is exactly when the community was handed over to him.”

A rather curious coincidence, wasn’t it? Maybe I had to meet his past self and do something before I could return to my original time.

“That sounds plausible as well. Is there a third?”

Did she think there wouldn’t be? I immediately offered my final possibility.

“Hiding the things I’ve gathered here somewhere safe so I can retrieve them in the future. Maybe that’s my final role.”

“Isn’t that... simply wishful thinking?”

Well, I couldn’t really argue with that...

“What about you? Have you thought of anything we might have to do?”

“W-well... I’ll tell you if I think of something.”

Tsk. I’d hoped she might come up with something good. It was a little disappointing, but accepting a companion’s shortcomings was part of being a leader.

“Anyway, have you sold all the equipment?”

“More than half. I could dispose of it faster if I lowered the prices—”

“No, I don’t mind if it takes time. Sell it for what it’s worth.”

“But there were quite a few valuable pieces. Wouldn’t it be better to keep some?”

Oh, she didn’t understand at all. Equipment needed maintenance. In other words, it lost value over time. Besides, selling twenty-year-old equipment would raise questions about where it came from, so in many ways it was cleaner to get rid of everything except the Demon Crusher, which money couldn’t buy.

‘The problem is, where can I hide all this so it’ll be safe...?’

My thoughts had drifted back to that question I’d pondered countless times when she spoke.

“Oh, and there’s one more thing I should tell you.”

“Hm?”

“I heard while I was out today that a rank-three Essence will be auctioned at the Central Trade Market.”

“Huh? A rank-three Essence? Why isn’t it going to the Sky Auction House?”

“It seems the Alminus Trading Company is trying something new.”

Hmm, were they trying to take the Central Trade Market upmarket? No matter what they did, they wouldn’t be able to beat the Sky Auction House.

“So, what Essence is it? Oh, are they keeping it secret until the day before the auction, like the Sky Auction House?”

“They are, but it doesn’t matter, since I already know which Essence it is. It was an extremely famous auction.”

Ahh, now this was a time traveler’s perk.

Urged on by my expectant look, Amelia spoke.

“Vol-Herchan’s Essence.”

Was this what they called destiny?

“...!!!!”

As luck would have it, it was an Essence essential to my build.