WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 111: The Rift of Time (1)

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"What in the world..."

Cesar muttered in a trembling voice. His gaze was fixed on the rift where Kyle and Elysia had stood moments ago. Yet no matter how many times he blinked, the sight before him did not change. All that remained was a single rift that had shrunk from a long line into a tiny dot.

They disappeared?

Just like that?

Did they run away?

That was the first thought that came to mind. Kyle and Elysia currently owed Cesar a debt over the matter involving the Black Crow Merchant Company.

It was not as though they had no reason to flee. Still, Cesar quickly dismissed the idea.

That could not be it.

Long-distance teleportation was an extremely advanced spell. Even Blink, a short-range spatial movement spell, was the same.

Not even the greatest archmage currently alive in Velia could cast teleportation in such a short time. Blink was no different. Spatial Magic fundamentally required difficult preparations. Even when it could be used, the backlash was immense.

Simply crossing ten meters of space would consume half the mental strength needed to use mana. The strain placed on the body was an additional problem. Only archmages counted among the best in the Empire or Federation could use it once as a final resort to move a short distance.

Cesar knew that well because he was highly knowledgeable about such matters.

Then only one possibility remained.

Cesar stared intently at the rift, now reduced to a dot.

Were they swallowed by that dragon's magic? Kyle and the mage traveling with him had vanished after the line-like rift suddenly expanded. The rift's strange change had probably been caused by the white jeweled pendant that had flown out from Kyle's clothes at the last moment.

Was that necklace really the cause?

"...Are you all right?"

Cesar staggered to his feet. The man with twin swords who had shielded him looked at Cesar with concern.

"I'm fine. There is no problem."

"But..."

"I know my own condition best. More importantly, how is everyone? Is anyone injured?"

Dismissing the man's concern, Cesar looked over the other knights and the mage.

"We are fine."

"We were far enough away, so there are no issues."

"Is that so?"

Other than Kyle and Elysia's disappearance, there was no notable damage. After checking each of his vassals, Cesar looked back at the rift floating in the air, now no more than a dot.

"It's dangerous!"

The only mage shouted when Cesar took a step forward. Cesar paid no attention.

"Quiet."

Without turning around, he waved his hand twice. While everyone swallowed hard and watched his back, he stopped right beside the rift. It had grown smaller after changing from a line to a dot, but it still seemed to breathe, drawing in and releasing mana.

"As expected, I cannot see anything..."

Cesar narrowed his eyes and frowned. Kyle had clearly said he could see scenery inside the rift, but Cesar had seen nothing when it was a line, and he saw nothing now that it was a dot. He could not sense anything either.

Was it a difference in talent as a mage? Or a difference in skill?

Or was it because of that mysterious pendant?

"What do you think, Malik?"

Without taking his eyes off the rift, Cesar spoke to the man with twin swords standing behind him.

"What are you asking?"

"Kyle and that female mage. Do you think they are alive?"

"Isn't it more likely that they are dead? The first mage who arrived was well known inland, but that mage was helplessly crushed to death by the rift."

"Dead, dead..."

For a while, Cesar stroked his chin as he stared at the rift. Malik and the other vassals waited tensely for his response.

"No, we do not know that. They might have survived by luck."

Reason told him they were dead. That was the more rational judgment.

His instincts said otherwise. They were alive. There was no way they had died. Caught between those conflicting voices, Cesar made his decision. Leaving the rift as it was would not produce an answer. It seemed better to watch the situation than recklessly invite another mage.

"How much food do we have?"

Cesar turned away from the rift and faced the others. Malik answered without hesitation.

"Three days' worth."

"Good. Two of you return to the castle. Bring enough supplies and food to establish a camp. The remaining three, including Malik, will stay here."

"Stay here? What exactly do you intend to do?"

"Keep waiting?"

"Yes, keep waiting. We will remain until we confirm whether Kyle and the mage traveling with him are alive or dead. Even if we all return to the castle, there is nothing useful we can do."

Cesar gestured toward the two knights, excluding the mage, who was staring directly at him.

"Rather than call another mage and cling to false hope, we will settle this within a few days. Bring only the additional people and supplies needed to keep the situation under control. Go now."

* * *

After being swallowed by the rift, Kyle desperately tried to calm his confused mind. His body was falling downward. Feeling the vivid sensation of descent wrapping around his entire body, Kyle tightly gripped the Dragon Heart in his hand.

What happened?

Did we get caught in the rift's rampage?

No, why did the Dragon Heart...

His thoughts continued without pause, but no clear answer came to him.

Kyle remembered Cesar's startled expression at the end, along with Elysia rushing toward him without hesitation.

Come to think of it, Elysia...

Elysia...

The fall lasted for a long time. By the time his eyes, blinded by the sudden burst of light, returned to normal, Kyle slowly opened his closed eyelids.

At the same time, he saw it. Where the light of the Dragon Heart and the rift had vanished, countless scenes were rushing past. Sights he had never seen before flashed from below to above like a panorama. Within those rapidly passing waves, Kyle saw things he normally could not have seen.

Someone being born, someone dying, a nation rising, a nation falling.

Within that endlessly repeating cycle.

Kyle saw countless dragons. Those creatures, made of scales stronger than steel, were not alone. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue. Dragons of every color lived alone, gathered among themselves, or blended into human society.

Some dragons were hostile toward humans. Some were friendly with them. Some remained alone, choosing solitude. As Kyle watched those different dragons, he realized something. At their core, they were no different from humans. They were living beings who lived and breathed on this land just like humans.

Is this... the past?

Kyle knew those scenes were not simple illusions. They were not hallucinations brought on by a broken mind.

They were all fragments of history he had glimpsed earlier.

The current of those waves did not last forever. The scenes that had seemed as though they would never end vanished into complete darkness after a pure white dragon appeared last.

Within that empty space where everything had been erased, Kyle drifted endlessly like a lost sheep. Suddenly, cold air began creeping up his limbs. Shivering from the chill that washed over him, Kyle closed his eyes again. Holding the Dragon Heart in both hands like his only lamp, he curled into himself like a child in that world filled with nothing but darkness.

If this is a dream, let it pass soon.

If it is not, then I...

"Ky..."

"..."

"Kyle...!"

Kyle opened his eyes at the voice that pierced his ears. The first thing he saw was a familiar face looking down at him.

"El...ysia..."

"Kyle! Are you awake? Does anything hurt?"

Unconcealed worry filled Elysia's golden eyes.

Just as Kyle often did for her, she placed her thin white hand on his forehead. Kyle did not reject her touch. He lay still and blinked slowly. As his blurry vision gradually cleared, countless thoughts came rushing in.

"Where is this...?"

"I do not know either. When I regained consciousness after being caught in the rift, I was here."

Elysia spoke as Kyle slightly turned his gaze to look around.

The darkness that had filled every direction was gone. Only a small sphere of light, likely created by Elysia's magic, floated nearby. The high ceiling was blocked by hard stone. Stalactites hung throughout the cave, and beneath them he could hear water dripping.

A cave?

Kyle first thought of the Ruins of Alenos. Back then, he had encountered a large door in a cave believed to contain the ruins and had been randomly teleported away. The situation was quite similar.

Yet something was different.

"It is not a dungeon... or ruins."

Kyle muttered to himself. Drawing out a little mana from his ring and examining the area, he found that it was simply a natural cave. He had only just sighed inwardly in relief when he wondered what time it was.

How much time has passed since we were swallowed by the rift?

An hour? Two hours? Or... days?

"Not much time has passed. I checked the pocket watch earlier. Barely one minute has gone by. Though it felt like at least several hours."

Elysia answered as if she had read Kyle's thoughts.

Kyle stared into her eyes and asked, "Elysia. Are you all right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your body. We do not know what happened when we were caught in the rift."

"There is no problem. Like you, I do not feel anything unusual."

"...I see."

Kyle opened his tightly clenched right hand.

"The Dragon Heart? Come to think of it..."

Elysia's eyes widened when she saw the pure white light shining from Kyle's right hand. She also knew the Dragon Heart was not unrelated to the rift's rampage. The calm line-like rift had expanded right after the Dragon Heart flew out from Kyle's clothes on its own.

Was it the cause of this incident? Or was it the benefactor that had protected Kyle and Elysia from the rift?

With a quiet groan, Kyle pushed himself up. Elysia, who had been kneeling beside him, continued to look at him with a worried expression. She reluctantly rose after him.

"You do not need to push yourself. Should we not rest for a while?"

"No, it is fine. I feel a little stiff, but it is nothing serious. More than that... it is cold."

After looking around once more, Kyle frowned slightly. A faint chill was reaching him now. When he felt cold in that space filled with darkness, he had assumed it was just his imagination. Apparently, it had not been.

"It does seem that way. I considered lighting a fire, but decided against it."

"It is close to freezing. Even an ordinary limestone cave would not be this cold."

"What will we do now?"

Elysia looked at Kyle as she asked.

"...Let us move for now. Nothing will change if we stay still."

It had been the same at the Ruins of Alenos. When they were dropped into an unknown place, the first priority was determining where they were. Kyle placed the Dragon Heart inside his clothes and walked through the cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites alongside Elysia.

When he drew out more mana than before and expanded his senses, he could feel the cave passage stretching onward. It definitely was not ruins or a dungeon.

The cave itself was just as vast. Even when he spread mana upward, he could not sense the surface.

Kyle frowned without realizing it.

This is troubling. Are we really hundreds of meters underground?

Around then, the monotonous cave scenery began to change. The flat ground became a gently sloping path. As they climbed while Kyle continuously spread mana around them, a high ceiling and a clear blue lake appeared before long.

"Wow..."

Elysia let out an instinctive gasp at the sight she had never seen before. Kyle went near the lake and dipped his hand into the water.

"Groundwater."

"Kyle."

"What is it?"

"Look at that. Those glowing rocks growing from the cave wall over there... are they not all Magic Stones?"

Elysia raised her hand and pointed in one direction. After exchanging a look with her, Kyle followed the solid ground around the lake to where the Magic Stones were growing.

"That is right. They are Magic Stones. And they are incredibly pure."

Kyle ran his hand across a Magic Stone. Every purple stone held mana of extraordinary purity. Their quality rivaled the highest-grade Magic Stones Kyle possessed. There was also an enormous quantity of them. If properly processed, they would be worth a fortune.

"The nature of the mana is different too. It is subtle, but..."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they are different from the Magic Stones mined in Velia. Not as different as dragon mana, but still fundamentally different."

Magic Stones were usually formed when underground mana naturally condensed inside rock, or when the Magic Tower artificially poured mana into them. Yet these purple Magic Stones were unlike either kind. Rather than artificial, they felt endlessly pure. Dragon mana was overwhelming and destructive, while the mana in these stones was perfectly clean, without a trace of impurity.

"Then..."

"This might not be the continent of Velia."

Kyle tried to deny the growing sense of unease in his chest.

Could this be Azaril? He had heard that the Magic Stones there had different properties from those of Velia. If they had been teleported after being caught in the rift, it was not impossible.

If it was not even that...

"...Let us go."

Kyle glanced at the Magic Stones and lake before turning back in the direction they had been heading. Others might have broken off the Magic Stones and taken them, but Kyle already possessed plenty of highest-grade Magic Stones. There was little benefit in carrying unprocessed ore when his Inventory Pouch was already full.

Without a word, Elysia silently followed behind him. Silence once again filled the cave, broken only by the occasional sound of dripping water.

Kyle used the mana from his ring as sparingly as possible to find the path, while Elysia remained alert for any monsters that might appear.

Several hours passed.

"The surface. We are almost there."

Just as their strength was beginning to run out, Kyle suddenly stopped and spoke.

Some color returned to Elysia's slightly tired face.

"We will be able to leave the cave soon?"

"Probably."

Kyle quickened his pace. Elysia followed him with quick steps without complaint. Before long, they saw sunlight streaming in from outside. As though entranced, Kyle walked toward the light. Elysia extinguished the sphere of light she had been maintaining.

Then...

"Ah..."

Kyle stood with his mouth slightly open. A vast white snowfield stretched before his eyes.

When he turned around, Elysia was emerging from the cave. Her reaction was much the same as Kyle's. The cave entrance they had exited slanted into the ground of a wide plain. Snow crunched beneath their feet.

After looking down at his feet for a moment, Kyle raised his head again. High mountain ranges and irregular ridgelines stretched into the distance. The world, dyed entirely white, made it feel as though they had entered another realm. Sharp coniferous trees rose here and there, beneath the bright indigo sky overhead. Clouds drifted leisurely between them.

"Snow...?"

Kyle unconsciously muttered the word.

It was late autumn, yet there was snow. Had they been dropped into the heart of Hailen in the north of the continent? But the Caldra Mountains were nowhere to be seen. The growing sense of unease stabbing at his chest made no sense either.

"...Elysia."

"Y-yes?"

"What time is it now?"

Kyle asked without looking back at Elysia. White breath billowed before his face. Shivering from the freezing cold, Elysia came to her senses and took out the pocket watch from inside her clothes.

"Eight in the evening..."

"Yet it is broad daylight. It was late afternoon when we first reached the rift."

Had a day passed? That could not be right. They were neither thirsty nor hungry. More than anything, if they had spent over a day in that freezing cave, there should have been something wrong with their bodies. Yet neither Kyle nor Elysia had a cold or fever.

Was this even Velia in the first place?

Azaril was the first place that came to mind. Yet it was not far from Velia in longitude. The time difference could only be a few hours at most. It could not be more than twelve hours like this.

Unless they were on the complete opposite side of Velia.

"Kyle! Over there..."

Just as he stood deep in thought with a serious expression, Elysia grabbed his arm without taking her eyes off the distant ridgeline. Kyle raised his head and stared where she was looking.

"What..."

Something was flying toward them. At first, it looked like a small black dot. It rapidly grew larger.

Soon, Kyle and Elysia could see it. An enormous body soaring through the wide sky, along with wings that appeared to stretch dozens of meters. Across the white snowfield lay the shadow of a creature that had gone extinct a thousand years ago.

"A dragon...?"

Kyle's murmur vanished into the air, mixed with his white breath. A dragon covered in deep reddish-orange scales swept over Kyle and Elysia in an instant. When Kyle lowered his gaze and looked beside him, Elysia was staring at him in the same stunned state.

They had both seen Wyverns several times before, so they could be certain.

That creature was completely different from a Wyvern in size, oppressive aura, and sheer presence. It was an entirely separate lifeform.

"Kyle..."

Elysia spoke in a trembling voice.

"This place... if I am right..."

"...Yes."

Kyle did not deny Elysia's words. He only agreed.

He was thinking the same thing.

They had returned to the past.

Footnotes:

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