WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 112: The Rift of Time (2)
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The dragon flying toward the opposite side of the sky never once looked back at Kyle and Elysia.
Just as people rarely stopped to examine every insect crawling over the ground.
It simply ignored them. It did not even care.
“Ha...”
A hollow laugh escaped Kyle.
He had only watched it fly away, yet his entire body tingled. The two stood in the middle of the snowfield, gazing toward the distant ridgelines until the vermilion dragon dwindled to a black speck.
Is this a dream?
That was the first thought that came to him.
Elysia seemed to feel much the same. Not a word passed between them.
No matter how he thought about it, that was more realistic than believing they had returned to the past.
He had seen it clearly with his own eyes, yet it still did not feel real. His mind kept denying the dragon's very existence.
No one living in Velia in the present age had ever seen a real dragon. Progenitor Dragon Prisia, who had died a thousand years ago, had been the first and last dragon.
Or am I seeing an illusion right now?
Kyle looked down and repeatedly opened and closed his left hand, the one wearing the ring. The mana swirling within the multicolored gem felt real, and nothing about this felt like a dream.
If this entire space were some enormous illusion, Kyle, who was extremely sensitive to mana, should have sensed at least a slight inconsistency. Yet there was nothing.
Kyle turned to look beside him.
Elysia seemed even more shocked than he was. She kept blinking as she stared beyond the ridge where the dragon had disappeared.
“Elysia.”
“Uh, ah...?”
“Get a hold of yourself. The dragon is already gone.”
Elysia turned toward Kyle a beat later.
“But it was a dragon...”
Her voice trailed off. Kyle could roughly guess what she wanted to say.
He had felt the same way from the moment they left the cave.
“You are asking whether that was really a dragon?”
Elysia pressed her lips together instead of answering.
“You know that too.”
It was a dragon. They had returned to the past.
Everything pointed to that conclusion, but his reason kept rejecting it. Otherwise, he felt as though he would not be able to endure it.
Fear of the unknown was one of humanity's most fundamental emotions.
“I know. I know that too.”
“...”
“It is too vivid to be a dream, and there are no traces of Illusion Magic. This must be reality. It must be, but...”
Elysia's voice slowly became pleading as she looked back and forth between Kyle and the direction the dragon had flown.
“Kyle, you know too, do you not?”
She stared straight at him, as if seeking agreement.
“Time Magic is impossible. It is fundamentally different from Spatial Magic or Illusion Magic. Even that dragon cannot defy the laws of the world. You understand better than anyone how absurd it is to say that someone can interfere with a timeline that has already passed.”
“That is true.”
Kyle did not deny it.
He remembered his time at the Lenore Magic Tower, which somehow now felt like the distant past. Back then, he had spoken with Lena in the Library of Dawn about magic.
She had asked whether he had any wish if the Dragon Heart could truly turn back even time.
At the time, Kyle had unconsciously thought that he wanted to return to the past.
It was not only Kyle. Everyone probably felt that way.
There was no human without regrets.
“But nothing is absolute. Especially in the study of magic.”
By common sense, interfering with time was impossible.
Still, that was only a limit humans had forcibly set for themselves.
“I do not want to believe this situation either, but...”
Sometimes reason and instinct clashed.
This was one of those times.
Whenever that happened, Kyle often followed his instinctive intuition rather than reason. In truth, it had saved his life more than once.
“If we have to find a clue, it is probably this.”
He took out the Dragon Heart, which he had put away inside his clothes earlier.
Unlike in the narrow cave, the pure white gem shining in the middle of the snowfield beneath the daylight looked more brilliant than ever. It seemed like an object that did not belong in this world.
“Then... have we really returned to the past?”
“Yes.”
“Because of Prisia's Dragon Heart?”
“I do not know. I know too little to be certain. But my intuition says that is what happened.”
Right after making a deal with Cesar yesterday, Kyle had felt an almost instinctive pull toward the Dragon Heart while eating with Elysia in the room they had been given.
The rift had gone berserk just after the Dragon Heart emerged as well.
The possibility was high.
No, it was extremely high.
At least, that was how it felt to Kyle.
“It seems that only the two of us, who were right in front of it, were swallowed by the rift.”
Only Kyle and Elysia had been in the cave. Cesar and his vassals were nowhere to be seen.
They had also been fairly far from the rift, so they were likely alive.
What are they doing by now?
Were they angry because Kyle, who had promised to solve the problem, had vanished? Or were they panicking over the berserk rift?
It would not have been strange for them to call in another mage as Kyle's replacement.
Or perhaps they were calmly watching the situation unfold.
“Elysia, do you know anything about the vermilion dragon that just passed by?”
Either way, it did not matter right now.
Kyle put the Dragon Heart back inside his clothes as he asked. If they had returned to the past, that meant the dragon had once been a creature that truly existed.
Elysia was the Empire's First Princess, and a genius mage from the Arven Mage Tower. She might have come across information about it in her extensive studies.
“I am sorry. I do not know much about it.”
Having regained some of her composure, Elysia averted her eyes as if embarrassed.
“Was there nothing in the Magic Tower's history books? Any information about an orange dragon?”
“There were many dragons in the past, so not every one of them was recorded. The ones in the history books were especially limited to the few dragons that made names for themselves in their time. There was some information about orange dragons, but I cannot say whether that was the same dragon...”
“So you do not know.”
“I am ashamed.”
“No. I am not blaming you. I did not ask because I expected an answer.”
It would have been a lie to say he had no expectations at all, but he had not expected much.
It would have been nice if she knew. That was all.
“One thing is certain. That dragon was not Prisia.”
That was enough for now.
Prisia was a white dragon covered entirely in snow-white scales. At the very least, that dragon was not her.
Elysia murmured to herself.
“Prisia, the last dragon, died a thousand years ago...”
“Then this is at least a thousand years in the past.”
Kyle drove home her guess.
Cesar had said the rift was dragon magic from thousands of years ago. If they were in a world where dragons like that roamed freely, there was a high chance they had gone back two or three thousand years.
Perhaps even four or five thousand years.
“What should we do?”
Elysia looked around helplessly, then looked up at Kyle as if asking him for an answer.
Kyle slowly surveyed their surroundings.
The two of them still stood in the middle of the snowfield. The freezing winter wind stung their skin like blades.
“I do not know...”
Kyle glanced toward the cave they had come through.
The cave that ran like a tunnel beneath the broad plain looked far more comfortable than the bitter landscape outside.
“If we return inside the cave...”
“That will not do. We do not even know exactly where we are yet. It may be better than the freezing cold outside, but locking ourselves in there would be no different from slowly dying.”
“Then you mean we should find other people?”
“We have to. Finding a way back is our highest priority.”
Kyle raised his head.
The sun shone brightly through the soft clouds drifting across the indigo sky.
“First, we need to find out what era this is.”
There was still plenty of time before sunset.
Leaving the cave behind, Kyle finally began to walk.
“Let us go. Until we find a village or city.”
* * *
After leaving the cave entrance, the two wandered the snowfield in search of any sign of people.
As expected, it was not easy to find anyone's traces in the middle of such frozen land.
“At this point, I am beginning to wonder whether this place is truly part of Velia at all.”
Elysia voiced her doubts.
The endless snowfield felt different from the Velia she knew. It felt even stranger because it had been late autumn until just before they were swallowed by the rift.
“Kyle, could this be the north in the past...?”
“No.”
Kyle answered immediately, without a moment of hesitation.
“If this were Hailen, the Caldra Mountains should be here. But they are not. There is a high chance this snow has simply accumulated because it is winter.”
“Then is there anywhere else you suspect?”
“No.”
“Nowhere?”
Elysia looked at him in surprise.
She had spent nearly her entire life in Archandia, the Imperial capital, as the Empire's princess. Still, she had not expected Kyle to have no idea either.
“It is not as if I have traveled across the entire continent. I have only been to a few places.”
“Is that so?”
Elysia tilted her head.
Kyle gave a slight nod and continued walking in silence.
Velia was enormously vast, and ten years were both long and short. Other than the northern region, Kyle had only visited the Empire and a few famous places in the south.
He had never even set foot in the Federation in the east.
The Crescent Theocracy at the center of the continent was the same.
“Still, you can make a guess, can you not?”
Elysia asked again.
“I do not think this is another continent.”
“Because Azaril has almost no regions where it snows?”
“That is right. Terrain like this is common in Velia, not Azaril. Most of that place is desert. Unless they live in high mountain regions, people there will go their whole lives without seeing snow.”
Returning to the past had already made such distinctions less meaningful.
What mattered now was finding people as quickly as possible and learning what era they were in.
“It is fortunate that we brought plenty of food.”
Kyle said this as he touched the spot inside his clothes where the Inventory Pouch rested.
Elysia nodded in agreement.
“You are right. It was best to prepare for the worst in everything. If we had no food in the middle of this snowfield, I do not know what would have happened...”
As time passed, the sun tilted westward.
The landscape changed greatly as red hues mixed into the vivid blue sky. The snowfield gradually turned reddish.
Snow-covered conifers swayed in the occasional gust of wind.
The sun, which had hung high overhead until recently, was almost disappearing beyond the ridgeline. The whole world glowed beneath a sunset that seemed painted in vermilion.
It was a beautiful sight, but Kyle was not especially moved by it.
He had seen scenery like this every day when he was in the north.
“Haa... Haa...”
That was when Elysia's breathing grew rough.
The snow gave way beneath every step. They had been moving without rest, and the exhaustion had built up.
To make matters worse, any sweat quickly evaporated, making the cold feel even harsher.
She was also shorter than Kyle. Even when covering the same distance, she had to take more steps.
Objectively, Elysia was not short.
Kyle was simply far taller than average, so she looked small beside him.
Even though Kyle had deliberately slowed down for her, it had become clear that she was falling behind.
“Are you having a hard time?”
Kyle stopped in the middle of the snowfield filled with sunset light and looked back.
“No... I am fine. I can still keep going...”
Elysia had barely managed to follow behind him.
She finally reached where Kyle stood and said that, but unlike her words, she looked exhausted enough for anyone to see.
Unable to watch any longer, Kyle spoke.
“If you are struggling, say so.”
“That is...”
“Then I have no choice.”
Kyle turned around and crouched down as Elysia hesitated without giving a clear answer.
While she stood there blankly, not understanding, Kyle spoke again in a calm voice.
“Get on.”
“...What?”
“Quickly.”
“No, even so, I am not a child. That is a little...”
“Then should I carry you under my arm? You look like you are about to collapse.”
Kyle looked back at her as if urging her on.
After hesitating for a moment, Elysia glanced at the distant mountains, then reluctantly leaned against Kyle's back.
“I am sorry. I do not want to keep becoming a burden...”
“Do not worry about it. It would be ridiculous to start worrying over something like that now.”
Kyle firmly supported her thighs with both arms, then rose from his crouch in one motion.
Elysia drew in a short breath in surprise and wrapped her arms around Kyle's neck from behind.
Her surprise did not last long.
When she opened her eyes after reflexively squeezing them shut, Elysia let out a quiet exclamation.
From up on Kyle's back, the same scenery looked entirely different.
More precisely, that was how it seemed.
The scenery before her was the same, yet it did not feel the same.
“It is high...”
“...”
“Being tall is nice. You have such a wide view.”
“It is not always an advantage.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Some shorter knights use it as a weapon instead.”
The snow that had swallowed their feet and drained their strength moments ago no longer hindered Kyle. With his long legs, he quickly pushed through it.
“This feels strange...”
Elysia quietly murmured as she looked down at the ground from Kyle's back.
Kyle kept his eyes forward as he answered.
“Bear with it a little longer. If we find a suitable place to camp, we will head there.”
“Mm.”
“We can rest before the sun sets, at least.”
“Mm...”
“This does not seem like something we can solve in a day or two.”
“That is true. I understand. Saving our strength will be important. If I get sick and become bedridden, you will be in trouble, Kyle...”
Elysia buried her face against the back of Kyle's neck.
As the tension drained from her stiff body, the sleepiness she had put off seemed to rush over her. Her arms and legs grew heavy on their own, regardless of her will.
Warm...
There was no Magic Tool enchanted with a warming spell. Was the warmth only in her imagination?
Or was it Kyle's body heat passing through his back?
Either way, it might not matter.
Kyle would protect her.
He had said they would camp soon as well.
Maybe it would be all right to close her eyes for just a moment.
“...Elysia.”
“Mm...? What is it?”
About thirty minutes after she had climbed onto his back, Kyle spoke in a voice that had turned stiff.
“I think you need to get down for a moment.”
“...Did something happen?”
Elysia immediately came to her senses.
Kyle bent his knees and lowered himself, and she jumped down as though she had never been tired.
“Uninvited guests.”
“Uninvited guests?”
“No, perhaps we are the uninvited guests here...”
Kyle narrowed his eyes and looked up at the gentle hill rising ahead of them.
Elysia naturally turned her gaze there as well.
Grrr...
A low animal growl pierced their ears.
At the same time, wolves appeared one by one atop the hill.
Countless beasts with transparent fur like ice bared their large fangs as they glared down at Kyle and Elysia. Because of the sunset, they looked as though their bodies were covered in vermilion fur.
“Frost Wolf...?”
Elysia murmured in a trembling voice.
“You know them?”
“Of course I do! Frost Wolves went extinct three thousand years ago. In the present day, it is rare to find even fragments of their bones, long buried and decayed beneath the earth. But how...”
Awooooo!
The wolf at the front of the hill raised its head and howled.
At that signal, the number of wolves glaring at them steadily increased.
“We are surrounded...”
Kyle clicked his tongue.
The wolves were not only on the hill. Others blended into the color of the snowfield as they closed in from the sides and behind them.
Grrrr! Rrraugh-rrraugh!
One wolf suddenly charged Kyle and Elysia.
The others rushed in after it.
Kyle did not panic. He drew out mana from his ring.
Invisible blades shot forward and sharply tore through the wolves lunging at them.
Yet the beasts did not stop.
Their bloodied companions rolled across the vermilion snowfield as corpses, but the wolves only increased their speed.
At the same time, wolves from behind began approaching them.
Elysia, who was bringing down wolves on Kyle's opposite side, widened her eyes at the beasts leaping toward them.
“Kyle! On the side too...!”
Elysia shouted urgently.
Kyle reflexively gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist.
There are too many.
There would be no end if this continued.
Just as Kyle greatly drew upon the ring's mana to take them all out at once, red flames suddenly rose from atop the hill.
A massive tidal wave of fire swallowed the Frost Wolves blocking its path without hesitation. It did not stop there, but came surging toward Kyle and Elysia as though it would engulf them as well.
“Ah...?”
“Damn it.”
Cursing, Kyle pulled Elysia into his arms in an instant and stamped his right foot against the ground.
A thick wall of ice rose from beneath his feet, forming a circle around Kyle and Elysia.
In the blink of an eye, every direction turned bright red.
The Frost Wolves' brief dying cries disappeared beneath the wave of flames.
Crackle, crackle.
The flames that had seemed to last an eternity gradually died down.
Familiar vermilion sunset light poured down in place of the blazing red flames.
Kyle pressed his palm against the water-filled ice wall, which had nearly melted, and shattered it.
“Good grief. Why are there so many damn mutts? What a nuisance... Hm?”
A figure atop the hill widened his eyes upon seeing Kyle and Elysia still standing below.
Among the blackened corpses of wolves, a man in a black cloak and a woman in a white robe slowly rose to their feet.
“A mage...?”
Elysia murmured as she looked at the figure on the hill.
With the sunset behind him, the mage wore a crimson robe as vivid as the magic he had just cast.
Its elaborate geometric patterns showed that it was no ordinary item. It was a robe fine enough for a Tower Master.
White hair and a long beard could be seen through the hood.
No, more importantly...
“Huh... I did not expect there to be people here. And for them to survive my magic without a scratch.”
The mage spoke in a dazed voice, his eyes as surprised as Kyle and Elysia's.
The moment the mage tried to walk down the hill...
“Do not come any closer.”
Kyle gave the warning.
His voice was not loud, but it rang out clearly.
The mage froze midway through a step.
Kyle grabbed Elysia's wrist behind him and hid her behind his back.
“You... are a noble of the Elandor Empire,” the mage said.
“...”
“What is going on? Who are you?” the mage asked.
Kyle's empty right hand slowly closed around the hilt of his sword.
The mage's lips curved into a smile as he looked down at them with interested eyes.
“I see. So that is what happened. Huh.”
The mage muttered to himself, looked at the distant ridge, then at the sun setting between the ridgelines, and finally down at Kyle and Elysia, who remained on guard.
Bright yellow eyes gleamed with curiosity beneath the hood.
“You two came from the future. Were you caught up in Prisia's magic?”
Footnotes:
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