WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 121: The Rift of Time (11)

──────

The room was quiet in the early evening, thanks to the soundproof barrier. The three sat in a circle in the middle of a clean, unfurnished room.

"Take it out."

With a single gesture, Alfred stored his staff away in subspace and jerked his chin toward Kyle's chest. Kyle took the Dragon Heart from around his neck and set it down on the floor between them so everyone could see it.

The Dragon Heart was still swirling with pure white mana, and it did not lose its radiance even beneath the sunset. The whole room was bathed in crimson, yet it still shone with its own light. But it was different from before. All three of them could feel that Prisia's mana had grown far more stable after absorbing the Ice Dragon's Dragon Heart.

"Hmm..."

Alfred narrowed his eyes as he picked up the Dragon Heart and turned it over in his hand. Kyle, who had been watching quietly, asked,

"Will it be possible?"

"For now, expanding the rift itself should be possible enough. Before, its fluctuations were so irregular we had to rely on it going berserk, but now it has a clearly stable cycle. Handling a Dragon's mana, especially the mana of a Progenitor Dragon, is practically suicide, but..."

"..."

"For you, it should be fine. In this condition, it is possible."

"The curse too?" Elysia cut in.

Her golden eyes stared straight into the wrinkled eyes of the old man, which were the same color.

"I will be honest. I said I might be able to solve the curse, but before we defeated the Ice Dragon, I had no intention of trying. Do you know why?"

"Because the risk is on a completely different level."

Kyle answered shortly, and Alfred nodded.

"So you knew. Then again, there is no way someone who borrows mana from a Magic Tool would not know."

Because of Izra's Thorn, Kyle was completely dependent on the ring, an external mana reservoir. He could not refine ambient mana inside his body, but he could handle mana that was already outside it to begin with.

That was why using external mana and bringing it into his body were entirely separate matters. The same was true for Prisia's Dragon Heart. Using Prisia's mana from the outside to expand the rift and bringing it directly into his body to push back the curse. The difference in risk between those two was on an entirely different level. It was only natural, since there was also a huge difference in efficiency between using mana externally and taking it into the body to refine it.

"But now you seem surprisingly willing to remove the curse."

"Because I saw the possibility. Even in my eyes, you are special. Not just in terms of swordsmanship or skill in handling mana, either. Very few humans ever received Prisia's favor directly. At first I was unsure, but the moment this Dragon Heart blocked the Ice Dragon's breath attack regardless of your will, I became certain. I thought this might actually work."

Alfred finished speaking and handed Prisia's Dragon Heart back to Kyle.

"Can you do it?"

Kyle did not answer. There was no need to. With a resolute expression, he lowered his head and looked at the white jewel in his hand.

"The method is simple."

Alfred's grave voice sank into Kyle's ears.

"First, gather mana inside your body without using the Dragon Heart. Enough to make the thorns protrude."

"And after that?"

"Use the Dragon Heart. Guide Prisia's mana into your body. No matter that Izra's Thorn was forbidden by the Sacred Treaty, it will mean nothing before the power of a Progenitor Dragon. But."

Alfred cut himself off and raised a finger. Kyle and Elysia both looked toward the old mage's face.

"Never, never push yourself too far. Do not try to solve it all at once. Ease it into your body very gently. As if you are slowly melting the thorns away. Even if Prisia's mana has stabilized, it has not changed the fact that it still holds a power far too immense for a human."

"Like when we mixed the thorns with Prisia's mana from the Ice Dragon's Dragon Heart and neutralized them?"

"Similar. But the danger cannot even be compared to that. I will say it again. Never overdo it. If anything feels wrong, stop immediately. Do you understand?"

Kyle turned his head. Elysia was staring straight at him.

"...Understood."

Giving a small nod, Kyle rolled up his sleeve while holding the white jewel in his right hand. He took one deep breath. As he did, the strength slowly drained from his body, which had been stiff with tension. Before filling his body with mana, Kyle quietly closed his eyes beneath the fading sunset and sank into thought.

Will it work?

Until now, he had not found even a single solution. That was how vicious Izra's Thorn was. But Prisia's mana was different. A fragment of the heart of the primordial Dragon said to be the strongest of all. The brilliant light of the Progenitor Dragon that had saved him again and again.

If there is even a little progress.

Then...

Kyle slowly opened his eyes. Alfred and Elysia were staring intently at his forearm.

The moment he drew up his mana, familiar pain struck and violet thorns sprang out. Red drops of blood dripped from the torn flesh, plop, plop. Kyle paid it no mind. Once the thorns had risen far enough, he clenched the Dragon Heart tightly in his hand.

Now.

Fwoosh!

The white jewel shone brilliantly. A radiant light spilled out through the gaps between his closed fingers.

In response to Kyle's will, Prisia's mana flowed through his right hand and into his body. The violet thorns that had erupted began to wilt and melt away, scattering fine particles into the air before vanishing one by one. The torn flesh did the same. Wrapped in white light as if holy potion had been poured over it, it began to heal.

"This is impossible..."

"Hah... Was this really possible?"

Elysia and Alfred's eyes widened as they watched. Both of them looked at Kyle's profile. His eyes had lost their focus as he stared at the jewel in his hand as if entranced.

Warm.

It was a sensation he had already felt many times before. A soft, comforting sensation. Following Prisia's mana, external mana raced through Kyle's body without obstruction for the first time. It was a familiar feeling he had last experienced three and a half years ago, so long ago that he had forgotten it.

Just a little more.

"...Stop."

It felt like he only needed to take a few more steps.

"Stop!"

Alfred's sudden shout jolted Kyle back to his senses. Still staring blankly at the Dragon Heart, Kyle hurriedly looked down at his forearm. On the arm where the thorns had almost disappeared, the veins that should have been blue had turned white.

"Stop!"

Alfred shouted again. Just as Kyle was about to let go of the Dragon Heart in his hand, the white jewel's light went out a beat earlier. The few thorns that remained fell to the floor still holding their shape, then melted away one by one.

"Kyle, you..."

"Are you all right?"

Elysia and Alfred asked in worried voices. Clutching his hazy head, Kyle barely managed to answer.

"I am fine, I think..."

"..."

"What just happened?"

"You lost consciousness for a moment. Not only the veins in your body, even your eyes turned white!"

"White...?"

"You truly did not feel anything?"

Kyle looked down at his arm once more. The veins that had turned white were slowly returning to their original color.

"No. Not really..."

"Did you intentionally cut off the Dragon Heart's mana?"

"It cut off on its own."

"That is fortunate. I told you earlier it seemed possible that Prisia's sense of self remained in that jewel, did I not?"

"Yes."

"It seems she cut the mana off of her own accord. She may have judged that it was still too soon for you to take all of her mana into your body. If you had gone one step further, you might have died."

Alfred spoke in a dry voice utterly devoid of humor. Only then did a chill run through Kyle. While Prisia's mana mixed with his own and flowed through his veins, it had felt incomparably comfortable. He had not realized it was that serious. The fact that his veins and even his eyes had changed color was the same.

"What about the curse? What happened to the curse?" Elysia asked with an anxious expression.

Kyle tried to draw up mana without the Dragon Heart, then stopped short.

"It is the same."

"Ah..."

"But it was not without gain."

Kyle opened and closed his right hand around the Dragon Heart. Until now, he had tried every method he could think of to solve Izra's Thorn, yet there had been no improvement. Now it was different. Even if it had not been a complete cure, he had temporarily held mana inside his body. For the first time, it felt as though light had touched a problem for which he had never even managed to find a clue.

"This is... not bad. It might even be better."

Alfred, who had been murmuring to himself, spoke under his breath.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Now that I have seen it for myself, I understand. You are assimilating with the Dragon Heart."

"Assimilating...?"

"It means that the heart fragment, a piece of Prisia herself, is merging with your body. Has there never been a time when the mana of a Progenitor Dragon, something you should never have even dreamed of handling, felt strangely familiar? Or when it felt like it was drawn to you like part of the same body?"

Kyle silently moved his lips, about to speak. Ever since he dreamed of her in the port city of Cadis, he had occasionally felt strangely drawn to the Dragon Heart. And Prisia's mana, which should have been impossible to control, had always felt unnervingly familiar.

"So there has been?"

Alfred grinned.

"Does that matter?"

"It matters a great deal. From here on, this is only my speculation, but later on you will probably be able to control Prisia's mana freely. Of course, by then something like Izra's Thorn will be gone."

"That is impossible..."

"There is no such thing as absolute in this world."

Alfred said it firmly.

"I am curious to see what you will become as well. It should be impossible, yet I am watching that impossible thing unfold with my own eyes."

"..."

"And the speed of your assimilation is quite fast too. From the looks of it, it is already about halfway done. To think I would live to see a human being eroded by a Dragon's mana in real time. No, perhaps it is not erosion if it is a good thing? Hah, honestly."

Alfred let out a sigh that sounded neither fully like admiration nor lament. Kyle naturally lowered his gaze. On the floor, blood had spread where it had dripped down between the vanished violet thorns.

"Anyway."

With a single gesture, Alfred lifted the drops of blood that had soaked into the floor and evaporated them. Then he looked back and forth between Kyle and Elysia as he spoke.

"Keep Prisia's Dragon Heart with you at all times. You must not let it leave your side for even a moment."

"Because of this assimilation?"

"That is right. In truth, there is no reason to separate from it anyway, is there? You have carried it well enough so far, so keep it close to your chest at all times. When the time comes, you will be able to use all of Prisia's mana. Do not be impatient. This is my first time seeing a case like this as well, so I cannot be certain, but..."

His words trailed off, then he added,

"I think it will be soon."

"..."

"You might even be able to use Prisia's Authority."

"Prisia's Authority..."

"It would probably be time."

The Authority of a Dragon. Kyle sank deep into thought.

"There is one thing I would like to ask."

"Ask."

After a brief pause, Kyle continued.

"The Ice Dragon we defeated said that Prisia of this era has been in hibernation for over several centuries. Did you know that?"

"I did. I was going to tell you beforehand, but I forgot."

"Is it possible that Prisia going into hibernation for several centuries is connected to us falling into this past?"

Alfred closed his mouth. He could not answer right away.

"Connected... I cannot give you a definite answer, since this too falls in the realm of speculation."

After staring at the ceiling for a moment, he lowered his head.

"I believe so. Two identical beings existing together in the same era without issue is impossible."

"Then all of this was arranged by Prisia...?"

"The possibility is high. No, I think it could only be that. The history books say that Prisia once slept for over a thousand years. A blank millennium. During that time, the era changed greatly. The number of Dragons also fell sharply. Even so, Prisia chose to sleep. Why do you think that was?"

"Because she glimpsed the future?"

At Kyle's words, Alfred smiled faintly.

"Out of tens of thousands of possibilities, she chose the future with the highest chance of killing the Emperor, the root cause of all this..."

"..."

"That is my conclusion. You two falling here would be part of that process. No matter that it is Prisia, directly interfering with the timeline by returning to the past is impossible."

If his guess was correct, Prisia's Authority was time. But even so, she could not change history that had already passed. So among countless futures, she chose the one with the highest probability. While she slept, she selected one branch from the endless spread of possibilities.

"..."

For a long while, silence drifted through the room bathed in sunset light. Kyle, Alfred, and Elysia. None of them spoke. In that quiet stillness, Kyle clenched the Dragon Heart in his hand.

If.

If I become able to use Prisia's Authority.

Then will I be able to see the future like Prisia?

"Do not force yourself to use Prisia's mana."

As if he could see straight into Kyle's thoughts, Alfred spoke.

"Everything has its proper time. If you force yourself to pluck fruit that has not even ripened yet, you may ruin everything."

"..."

"That is especially true in desperate situations. You may try to overcome the situation only to have your body burst apart. You do not want to die pointlessly, do you?"

Kyle nodded readily. It was then that Elysia, who had been listening the whole time, opened her mouth.

"Sir."

"Hm? What is it?"

Alfred turned his gaze from Kyle to Elysia. A pleased smile hung at the corners of the old mage's mouth as he looked at his distant descendant, who was no different from a granddaughter.

"I have a request."

"A request... If it is something I can grant, I will."

"Could you come with us?"

Elysia asked in all seriousness. In an instant, the smile on Alfred's lips turned lonely.

"I am sorry."

The old mage refused with a sorrowful expression. Elysia's face darkened. Kyle quietly watched the two of them.

"...May I ask why?"

"It is not that I dislike you two or anything. This is simply a matter of whether it can be done or not."

"If the rift opens..."

"You two will be able to return. But not me. Tampering with time and space is extremely difficult, even using Prisia's mana. The moment I force myself into the rift the two of you crossed through, I cannot guarantee what will happen. There is no need to take on needless risk and create another variable."

Alfred, who had been looking at the floor, raised his head. Elysia looked as though she might cry at any moment.

"Do not make that face. It is not as if I am dying. Did I not say from the beginning that at the very least I would return you two to your original world?"

Alfred turned to Kyle. Kyle did not know what expression he was wearing right now. He only avoided his gaze. Now that parting was truly close at hand, his heart felt strangely unsettled.

"I will be able to keep my promise soon."

Looking at the two of them with a faint smile, Alfred rose from his seat.

"You should rest now."

With the sunset at his back, he dispelled the soundproof barrier with a wave of his hand.

"We should be able to reach the cave by tomorrow."

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried