WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 113: The Rift of Time (3)

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The mage asked as though it were nothing.

Veins stood out on Kyle's right hand as he gripped his sword hilt. Behind him, Elysia's shoulders flinched. The slender wrist he held trembled faintly.

"How..."

How did you know that?

He swallowed the rest of the question. Hiding his shock as best he could, Kyle glared at the mage.

No one from this era could possibly know that the two of them had come from the future. The same went for their being swept up in Prisia's magic.

More importantly, the style of that red robe was unmistakably from the Elandor Empire. If Frost Wolf monsters were still alive, this had to be at least three thousand years in the past. Yet at that time, the Empire had not even existed, let alone as a kingdom.

In other words, that mage was either someone from the future who had returned to the past like them, or something that transcended time itself. Kyle had no choice but to remain on guard.

"Ha ha. Don't misunderstand. I have no intention of fighting."

"..."

"I've made myself seem suspicious for no reason. Then again, if I were in your position, I wouldn't lower my guard either. Is this enough?"

The mage chuckled and raised both hands at Kyle's sharp reaction. Kyle, however, did not loosen his grip on the sword hilt.

That mage was strong. Extremely strong.

An ordinary person would have seen only a mage in an exceptionally expensive-looking robe. Kyle was different. Highly sensitive to mana, he could still feel the warped flow of mana lingering around the mage's body.

It was the aftermath of casting large-scale fire magic.

Yet the mage showed no sign of fatigue. That kept Kyle from relaxing. Judging by his apparent standing as a mage alone, he was comparable to the last king of the Kingdom of Alenos, the Lich from the ruins. Considering that Lich had used Spatial Magic with ease, it was an absurd comparison.

Could I win if we fought?

Kyle could not answer with confidence, even though knights generally held the advantage in a one-on-one fight, except perhaps in a large-scale war.

Was there such an archmage in the Empire? If there was, there's no way I wouldn't know.

"How strange. I thought I was the only person from the future in this era."

Kyle was turning the question over in his mind with a frown when the mage pushed back the hood of his robe.

"Or perhaps it isn't so strange, considering when I fell into the past."

The old man appeared to be a little over seventy. His hair was completely white, and he had a long beard, but his golden eyes shone brightly in contrast.

The elderly mage walked down the hill covered in wolf carcasses. Kyle felt the tension leave the hand gripping his sword.

"Are you from the future as well?"

"..."

"Who are... no, who might you be?"

Kyle found himself speaking politely without meaning to. The old man gave off nothing but an oddly calm air. There was not the slightest sign of hostility toward them.

It was the same with the way he looked at Kyle and Elysia. His gaze was like that of someone who had encountered an old and dear friend.

"It seems you have many questions. Is that right?"

The old man stopped just a few steps away from Kyle and Elysia. Smiling warmly, he looked between them.

"The truth is, so do I. There is much I wish to ask."

"Like what?"

"How you came to be here. What your connection is to Progenitor Dragon Prisia. You stopped my magic, so you seem quite skilled. What did you do in your original world? Would you not say there is more than enough for us to discuss?"

The old man nudged a charred wolf corpse on the ground with the tip of his shoe.

"For now, the sun is almost down, and this is not a particularly pleasant place..."

Trailing off, the old man turned around. He looked completely defenseless, as though he had not considered for even a moment that Kyle might attack him.

Or perhaps he was simply that confident.

Either way, he did not seem like an immediate threat. Kyle let out a hollow laugh and released the sword hilt. When he turned around, Elysia stood there with a confused expression. She still had no idea how to take in the situation.

"What are you doing?"

The old man, who had begun walking ahead alone, glanced back at them.

"Come along. It seems we have much to say to each other. From the look of things, you don't even have a place to sleep. You can't spend the night outdoors in weather like this, can you?"

* * *

They did not deliberate for long. Kyle and Elysia obediently followed the old man.

Even if they parted ways with him, they had no better option. The sun would soon set, so they needed to find somewhere to spend the night.

Above all, the old man had immediately seen through the fact that they had come from the future and were connected to Prisia. He was also someone Kyle could not confidently defeat. If things went well, they might learn all sorts of information from him.

His complete lack of hostility or suspicion also helped. At the very least, the chances of being stabbed in the back seemed low.

"We're nearly there. Just hold on a little longer."

Walking several steps ahead, the old man spoke without looking back. Kyle, carrying Elysia on his back, raised his head toward the sky.

The crimson sunset had disappeared, and dim twilight filled the space it left behind. The freezing wind that had bitten into his skin grew even stronger. Elysia's breathing against the back of his neck became faint.

Kyle forced his exhausted legs to move.

The old man leading the way, on the other hand, showed no sign of struggling. He was clearly over seventy by appearance, yet he moved with the vigor of a man in his twenties. Even crossing the snow where their feet sank deeply looked as effortless as taking a stroll.

At this point, Kyle felt he had to get to the bottom of the old man's identity, if only out of curiosity.

"Elysia."

"...Yeah."

"You can't fall asleep."

"I know... I won't..."

"...Good."

Perhaps she was very cold, because Elysia sniffled and tightened her arms around Kyle's neck. As Kyle silently followed the old man, he raised his gaze slightly at the changing scenery.

At the end of the plains stood the base of a snow-covered mountain. The old man walked without hesitation through towering conifers that looked dozens of meters tall.

Before long, he stopped in front of one particularly massive tree.

The tree was nearly a hundred meters tall, and its trunk appeared to be at least ten meters wide. A small wooden door stood in its center.

"This is..."

"My home. It is temporary, though. No, perhaps it is no longer temporary, since I cannot return now."

The old man smiled bitterly and opened the door. Kyle lowered Elysia from his back.

"Come in. Make yourselves comfortable."

The interior was larger than it had appeared from outside. The ceiling was just as high as the tree itself. Roots or branches hung down from it, their surfaces covered with clusters of fruit.

Each fruit gave off a soft yellow glow, warmly lighting the inside of the tree.

Books filled shelves that seemed to have been carved directly into the wooden walls. A wide, round table stood in the center. In one corner was a bed, likely used for sleeping.

It felt as though a fantastical house from a fairy tale had been brought to life. Everything one person needed to live alone was there.

"Have you eaten?"

"...No."

"Wait here. I'll bring out something simple to eat."

The old man searched through the cupboards in the small kitchen. Kyle and Elysia cautiously lowered their hoods, pulled over nearby chairs, and sat at the table.

"It's nothing special, but it should at least warm you from the inside."

Not long afterward, the old man brought over three bowls of hot soup. Wooden bowls floated through the air before settling on their own in front of the two.

Elysia's eyes widened. Kyle was also quite surprised, though he did not show it. He had rarely seen anyone besides himself control mana with such precision.

"Have a bite."

"..."

"I didn't put anything strange in it, so don't worry. Though it's a little awkward to say, this is what was left over from my lunch."

The old man chuckled and made a remark that might have been a joke or might not. Kyle glanced at the hesitant Elysia beside him, then slowly brought a spoonful to his mouth.

"It's edible, isn't it?"

"...Yes."

"It is remarkable enough to meet someone from the future like myself, but sitting face-to-face and sharing a meal like this feels rather strange."

The old man also took a spoonful of soup, speaking in a tone of deep emotion. Kyle did not know how to respond, so he simply gave a small nod. Elysia ate in silence.

After some time passed.

"Now then, what should we discuss first..."

Once the warmth had settled somewhat in their stomachs, the old man spoke again. He seemed troubled by having too much to say.

After humming to himself in thought, he lifted his gaze toward Kyle and Elysia.

"The thing you are most curious about is probably where this place is. You may have guessed that you returned to the past, but you could not have been certain. Am I right?"

Kyle and Elysia looked at each other, then gave small nods. There were many things they wanted to ask, but that was the first question they needed answered.

They needed to know where they were before they could do anything else.

"Do you know where this is?" Kyle asked.

The old man answered at once.

"As you expected, this truly is the past."

"If it is the past..."

"Roughly two to three thousand years before the death of Prisia and the extinction of dragons. In this era, there are still quite a few dragons left."

Prisia had died a thousand years ago. If this was roughly two to three thousand years before that, then from Kyle's original time, they had gone back three to four thousand years.

So that was it.

Kyle recalled the vermilion dragon he had seen earlier. It also explained the Frost Wolf monsters. Three to four thousand years in the past was a time when many dragons besides Prisia still remained.

Even so, his mind could not easily accept it. Elysia was the same. No matter how much they said they understood, it was difficult to deny the common sense they had built over an entire lifetime.

Even when unbelievable things were unfolding right before their eyes.

"You still don't seem convinced."

The old man asked with a knowing look. After thinking for a moment, Kyle spoke as though making an excuse.

"No. I've already seen a dragon flying through the sky."

"Even so, it must be difficult to accept. I understand. To be honest, even I sometimes feel as though all this is a dream, despite having fallen into this place more than a year ago. It must be even harder for you, who seem to have arrived only recently."

The old man looked down at the half-finished soup with a complicated expression. Kyle and Elysia had been here for less than a day, so they could not know how he felt.

A year was not a short time.

"Are there other people? People from this era, besides us?"

As though trying to clear the heavy atmosphere, Kyle changed the subject. The old man quickly caught on and answered.

"There are. Quite a lot of them, in fact."

"But we haven't seen a single person..."

"The cities are much farther down from here. Almost no one lives in a remote place like this."

"Are we truly on Velia?"

"That much is certain."

"Which region exactly?"

"I don't know in detail, but it is probably the east. The area that will become the Federation in the future."

After that, the old man quickly explained what he had learned during his year in this past era.

The kinds of dragons that remained. The level of civilization in this world and the few nations that had naturally formed. And the fact that all of this was not a simple illusion, but truly the world of the past.

"Do you really believe that is possible?"

Elysia, who had listened quietly until then, spoke for the first time. Unlike usual, she was using formal speech like Kyle. The seemingly kind old man possessed enough power and dignity to warrant it.

"What do you mean?"

"That this is truly the past, not an illusion."

Elysia stared at the old man intently. As a mage by nature, she appeared to want a logical answer for this impossible phenomenon.

"Didn't I just say that it was real?"

"No. No one can interfere with the timeline. It is an immutable law that every phenomenon created through mana or divine power requires a price. The moment someone interferes with the past and changes the future, their very existence would disappear. Attempting it should be impossible."

Elysia spoke clearly. Her words were reasonable.

Every miracle came at a price.

Even Kyle accepted that as an immutable law. That was why Spatial Magic and Illusion Magic were so difficult. They consumed an extreme amount of mana as their price.

Twisting the laws of the world required an equal sacrifice. That was also why the dead could not ordinarily be brought back to life.

Then what if someone changed history itself?

"You're clever. Do you think so as well?"

The old man turned from Elysia to Kyle. Instead of answering, Kyle kept his mouth shut.

It was a silent affirmation.

"Of course you do. You're right. Directly interfering with the timeline and altering history would be impossible even for Progenitor Dragon Prisia."

The old man nodded to himself a few times before continuing.

"But the fact that we are in the past cannot be denied. What would we gain by turning away from reality?"

"Are you saying it is possible to interfere with a timeline that should be impossible to alter, and change history?"

"No."

The old man firmly denied Kyle's question.

"I have thought about that issue countless times, but my conclusion was that it cannot be done. If I could directly interfere with the past from here, I should have found some trace of it in the Empire before I fell into this world. Even the smallest action can greatly alter history through the butterfly effect."

"But there was nothing."

"That is right. Even while I lived in the Empire, I found no trace of history having changed. That would mean one of two things. Either I lived and died like a mouse in the mountains without meeting a single person, or changing the past itself was impossible. This era is before either the Empire or Federation was born."

"..."

"And I would rather believe the latter. No matter how I think about it, I am not the sort of person who would live quietly and die. Perhaps we can remain in the past, but the moment we interfere with existing history, our very existence disappears. It is all speculation, of course."

Silence filled the room for a while. The soup that had once steamed gently had gone cold.

"Our meeting like this must also be because some kind of power is at work."

As though breaking the silence, the old man spoke again.

"And as far as I know, the only power capable of that belongs to Progenitor Dragon Prisia."

The old man looked between Kyle and Elysia.

"Do you happen to possess Prisia's Dragon Heart?"

His voice was grave. Elysia flinched.

Kyle, in contrast, remained calm. After noticing Elysia's reaction, the old man fixed his gaze on Kyle one last time.

"Before that, there is one thing I would like to ask."

"Go ahead."

"This time, do not evade the question. Answer me properly. Who are you?"

Kyle met the old man's gaze without looking away.

The old man did not answer immediately. He only wore a self-mocking smile. Kyle could glimpse countless emotions within that faint smile.

"There is no need to hide it now. There is no emperor here."

"What does that...?"

Elysia looked confused.

"My name is Alfred Lucent."

The old man spoke calmly. A tremendous shock appeared in Elysia's golden eyes as they slowly widened.

"I was once the head of House Lucent, one of the founding houses of the Elandor Empire. Now, I am the name of a forgotten sinner."

The old man looked at Elysia with clear golden eyes.

Two pairs of eyes of the same color met.

The old man's identity was none other than Elysia's distant ancestor. He was also the greatest archmage of his age, recorded as the worst traitor in the history of House Lucent.

Footnotes:

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