WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 122: The Rift of Time (12) (Author's Note: Must Read)

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Once they had finished examining the Dragon Heart, the three ate a simple meal of dry bread and jerky. Afterward, they asked the village chief if they could use his washroom.

Even in winter, they needed to wash after their battle with the Ice Dragon. Since the chief knew Alfred, he watched the three closely and piled on plenty of firewood. The villagers, including his wife, did not know Alfred's exact identity, but they knew he was an exceptionally skilled mage. On top of that, he had willingly handed over the Ice Dragon's corpse.

Thanks to the chief's generous hospitality, the three were able to wash with hot water. Once the sun had fully set, Kyle, Elysia, and Alfred lay side by side in a room without beds. The blankets and pillows were not particularly good, but simply being able to sleep indoors in this cold weather felt like heaven. Soft moonlight streamed through the closed glass window.

"Hoho, it has been a very long time since I slept beside someone like this."

Alfred, who had been lying still and staring at the ceiling, spoke.

"Has it?"

"As you know, Kyle, carrying many burdens is exhausting."

"Have you ever wanted to rely on someone too, sir?"

Elysia asked, turning only her head to the side. The old mage met her gaze for a moment, then smiled bitterly.

"There is no perfect person in this world."

"......."

"Everyone carries one or two troubles they cannot speak of within them."

"Troubles they cannot speak of..."

"Let us sleep now. We need to turn in early if we are to leave promptly tomorrow morning."

The conversation ended there. In the room touched by faint moonlight, the quiet breathing of the three slowly filled the air. At some point, the breathing of the other two, excluding Kyle, became deep and steady.

Tomorrow...

Kyle remained awake, staring blankly at the ceiling. Tomorrow, he would be able to return to his original world. In other words, it meant he had to do what he had put off.

Find a ship, leave the island, and reach the place where the Federation's council was located.

Then, in the end, kill the Emperor and destroy the Empire.

Kyle gripped the Dragon Heart tightly beneath his blanket and gave himself over to the drowsiness washing over him. Before long, it was as though a hazy fog had filled his mind, and his consciousness sank deep beneath his subconscious.

When he opened his eyes again, the room was still filled with pale moonlight. Kyle blinked at the ceiling for a while before slowly sitting up. When he looked beside him, Alfred's spot was empty. Nothing remained on the disturbed bedding, as though someone had simply vanished.

Where did he go?

Kyle reflexively started to rise, then flinched when he saw Elysia right beside him. At some point, she had turned onto her side and curled up, sleeping as peacefully as could be.

So he did not secretly leave at dawn.

Kyle looked down at Elysia for a moment, then pulled the blanket that had slipped down over her shoulder. He got up, buckled the sword he had placed near his head onto his waist, and loosely wrapped his cloak around himself. Leaving the room, he passed down the creaking wooden stairs and threw open the front door. The cold winter wind swept over his entire body.

"Cannot sleep?"

A familiar voice came from above. Kyle turned around.

"Sir."

"It has been well past midnight for some time. We will leave in a few hours, so you should rest as much as you can."

On the roof of the two-story brick house sat an old mage, perched in the middle of the sloped slate tiles as he quietly gazed up at the moonlit sky. Like Kyle in his black cloak, Alfred wore a fine red robe as he looked down at him with gently curved eyes.

"Did you come out for some air?"

"Something like that. You too?"

Kyle looked around once, wrapped Wind Magic around his feet, and lightly leaped upward. Landing steadily on the roof, he dropped down beside the old man instead of answering.

"I woke up in the middle of the night."

"I see. The truth is, so did I."

Their conversation stopped for a while. As though they had made a promise, the two sat on the roof and looked over the village. Larger than an ordinary village and closer to a small town, it was now steeped in soundless stillness, unlike the noisy early evening. Beneath the half-moon hanging in the darkened sky, the snow-covered earth gleamed white.

"Sir."

Kyle spoke first, breaking the silence.

"Will you truly not come with us?"

The answer did not come right away. After a short pause, Alfred's low voice answered.

"Have I not already told you? It is impossible regardless of my wishes."

"You never know. With Prisia's power..."

"It may be possible. But I do not wish to add needless danger by gambling with your lives. Prisia's mana cannot solve everything."

"Even so..."

"You want me to help you kill the Emperor, do you not?"

No. Kyle had almost answered that unconsciously, but he pressed his lips together.

Alfred had struck the heart of it. Though history recorded him as a traitor, he had been the greatest archmage of his era and Elysia's distant ancestor. If he lent them a hand, he would surely be a great help. Yet Kyle did not want to lie to his face when Alfred would clearly see through it. He could not.

"Or do you pity me?"

"......."

"Both, then. Is that right?"

Alfred smiled, playful yet somehow mischievous. Unable to meet his gaze, Kyle lowered his head.

"You really are softhearted."

"No. I..."

"Hoho. There is no need to pretend before me. Being tenderhearted is not always a bad thing."

Being tenderhearted was not always a bad thing. Kyle silently turned those words over in his mind. Normally, he might have let them pass without much thought, but he could not do that now.

Was a gentle nature really necessary to kill the Emperor and destroy the Empire? Would it not be better to kill his own sense of self and run toward a single goal with his eyes fixed on nothing else?

"I suppose I have no choice."

No answer came to him yet. Letting out a quiet sigh, Kyle raised his bowed head.

"Hm? You are giving up more easily than I expected."

"Would it make any difference if I insisted? Have you not already made your decision?"

"That is true. Besides the fact that there are too many variables, there is another reason I cannot go with you."

"Because you are tired?"

"That is part of it, but... I like it here."

The old man's lips curved gently. His golden eyes turned away from Kyle and took in the world below the roof.

"No one knows me, and no one oppresses me."

His voice was little more than a murmur carried away by the wind.

"When I first realized this was a past more than three thousand years ago, I fell into deep despair. That is no longer the case. I have grown used to everything now."

"......."

"Rising leisurely in the morning to read. Going for a walk outside at noon and speaking with people. Conducting simple magical research in the evening. Do you know what a great blessing it is to live a peaceful daily life, grateful for such small happiness?"

Kyle looked at the old mage's profile. As he gazed up at the moon, his face looked complete as it was, with nothing to add and nothing to take away. Seeing that, Kyle gave up entirely on taking Alfred to the future they had come from. This, too, must have been part of the future Prisia had seen.

"I understand."

"Of course, I should refrain from doing anything that might affect history."

"......."

"I do not wish to disappear overnight either."

"For someone saying that, you seem to spend quite a lot of time with people from this era."

"Haha! That is true. In fact, catching the Ice Dragon this time was rather excessive. But what else could I do? The people wanted it, and you needed it. Fortunately, it seems this much will not cause a problem."

Alfred chuckled, then groaned as he rose from his place. Kyle stood up as well.

"May I ask one thing of you?"

Before climbing down from the roof, Alfred looked at Kyle. Kyle silently nodded.

"Please take care of that child."

"......."

"Like you, she acts strong on the outside, but she is tender inside. She is so fragile that it would not be strange if she collapsed at any moment."

"I know."

"That is why I am asking you. Her house has fallen, her mother is dead, and her father's mind was consumed by the First Emperor. You are the only one she can rely on, so she must be suffering greatly inside."

"But I..."

Kyle trailed off. He knew Elysia was fragile. He had seen her cry in a dream while searching for her dead mother.

"I..."

Yet Kyle could not comfort her. He could not become someone she could lean on. He did not even know when he himself might collapse. In the not-too-distant future, when he drove his blade into the heart of the Empire, he might die. Could someone who might die help another person? Especially when he had already placed his own life on the line.

"That is enough."

Alfred's voice pulled him from his thoughts. The old mage before him was reaching out with a wrinkled finger and lightly tapping Kyle's forehead.

"Do not think too deeply about it."

"......."

"Negative thoughts eat away at the body."

"...I see."

"You do not need to give me a firm answer. When she is having a hard time, it will be enough if you can be a small shelter for her. And do you know? Revenge is not everything in life. If you survive the day your mission ends, you will still have a great deal of time left ahead of you."

Alfred smiled brightly. Kyle found himself lifting the corners of his lips at that refreshing smile.

"Elysia will be sad."

"Where there is a meeting, there is also a farewell. Think of it as a brief, pleasant dream. I will carry my memories with you two for the rest of my life."

He lightly leaped down from the roof. A faint gust of wind blew beneath his red robe, and his feet landed without a sound. Kyle followed Alfred back inside. The village, still bathed in moonlight, remained quietly asleep.

* * *

Early the next morning, after preparing to leave, the three met the village chief one last time. The chief, who had given them a room for the night, looked surprised when he saw Kyle's group ready to depart at daybreak.

"Are you leaving already?"

"That is what we should do. It is only proper for uninvited guests to leave eventually."

"Uninvited guests? Never! Do you know how much help we have received from you, Mage..."

"Then please take care of the rest. Bring what remains to my house. You have not forgotten what I said yesterday, have you?"

Alfred was referring to the disposal of the Ice Dragon's corpse. The chief nodded repeatedly. Looking satisfied, Alfred turned around and led the way.

"Let us go."

The three left the village and walked across the snowfield. The white landscape was the same as before, but perhaps because the Ice Dragon had died, the wind brushing against their skin felt somewhat warmer.

"We found it."

How long had they walked like that? Moving quickly, they found the cave entrance in the late afternoon before the sun set. It was where Kyle and Elysia had first emerged after falling into this world. As before, it had been carved diagonally into the ground, looking like a mixture of a burrow and a mountain cave.

"Will the rift still be there?"

"Only a few days have passed, so it probably will be. Still, we should move quickly. Just in case."

At Elysia's question, Alfred stepped briskly into the cave. Kyle and Elysia exchanged a glance, then followed behind him.

The first thing they saw was a narrow stone passage. It did not last long. The suffocating cave soon changed into a limestone cavern with a high ceiling. Beneath the sound of dripping water, stalagmites and long stone pillars stood in abundance.

Before they knew it, the three had reached the natural underground lake they had seen before. Countless violet Magic Stones were embedded throughout the clear blue lake. But that was not important now. Following Alfred's lead, the three left everything behind and steadily moved deeper down.

Several hours passed.

"Here."

Alfred, who had been leading them, stopped walking. With a gesture, he extinguished the sphere of light he had summoned, then turned to the other two.

"That is..."

"The rift. We are lucky. It was very difficult to find when I saw it before."

Alfred approached the thin line of soft light hanging in the air. Kyle and Elysia also moved closer and examined the rift that had eroded the space around it. Unlike when they had first awakened in the cave, it was clearly alive and breathing. It was the same place where they had opened their eyes before, yet it somehow felt completely different. It must have been because of the dense mana filling the area.

"Would you like to try?"

Alfred asked. Kyle quietly nodded and took Prisia's Dragon Heart from inside his clothes.

Flash!

He did not need to draw out mana separately. As it approached the rift, the Dragon Heart gave off light of its own will and rose into the air. When Prisia's white mana seeped into the rift, the space that had been a small line opened in an instant like a large oval entrance.

The rift rippled.

Kyle looked inside. Countless scenes flashed past. He had not been able to be certain before, but now he knew. Every one of those scenes was the past, the present, and the future.

"It is time to say goodbye."

Alfred spoke. Kyle and Elysia turned around at the same time.

"I have one final question."

Kyle parted his dry lips. Alfred looked at him with curious eyes.

"What is it?"

"Will you truly not come with us?"

"I told you yesterday, but I cannot go. You two alone are going to the future. In both my era and the future you came from, I am someone who died long ago. I intend to live here as quietly as I can until my time comes."

Alfred answered calmly. Kyle had asked out of courtesy, so he simply nodded without a word.

Elysia was different. Though she did not look as distressed as yesterday, her expression was still complicated. It seemed hard for her to accept that they would part forever after only one day. Seeing that, Alfred smiled bitterly.

"Do not look at me like that. You will make me sad too."

"......."

"You see, as the heir to House Lucent, the greatest house in the Empire, I lived my whole life walking a path that had been decided for me since childhood. Some envied me or looked up to me, but in truth, it was not very enjoyable. Too many things became burdens that weighed me down."

But then Alfred took a breath and looked between Kyle and Elysia with a proud expression.

"Now, I cannot shake the feeling that every moment I found burdensome was meant for this very moment."

"That is..."

"That it was all to meet you two. Being branded a traitor. Accepting my own death. Falling into the past and meeting you. And standing here now. It was all a destined fate, an inevitability."

"......."

"Was this also the future Prisia saw?"

Alfred smiled brightly. Kyle was left speechless by that pure, unblemished smile.

Fate. The future Prisia saw. The time that had drawn them together.

His past self would have denied it. Not now.

"It was a short time, but I enjoyed it."

Alfred raised his empty hand. He extended his palm toward them as though pushing the air.

"May you achieve what you desire."

Kyle felt an invisible force pushing him away. Elysia felt it too. When their bodies had been drawn halfway into the rift, the scenery around them blended together and twisted. The old mage's lips still held a clear smile in the final sight they saw.

Footnotes:

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