The day of
The only ones who appeared in the teleportation circle chamber were myself, Perugius, and his subordinates.
There were no see-off's. That was Nanahoshi's wish.
She had said her farewells, so she must have at least met with everyone she could.
The formation was the same as always.
I would serve as the mana tank, and Perugius and the others would handle control.
Nanahoshi stood at the center of the magic circle.
Dressed for travel with a large backpack on her shoulders, she stood facing me.
Inside that pack, she had packed everything imaginable to prepare for every conceivable situation.
That said, neither Nanahoshi nor I had ever traveled abroad in the other world. So she had loaded it with things that could be exchanged for money anywhere, her personal identification documents, and mana crystals plus scrolls—even though she wasn't sure if they'd be usable over there.
It was everything she thought would be needed during her travels, more or less.
After that, she'd just have to rely on her wits and courage.
"......"
Nanahoshi looked at me, and I looked at Nanahoshi.
No words.
We had exchanged enough words during this time.
There was no need for more.
"
At Perugius's words, I placed my hand on the teleportation device.
The method was the same as always.
We had practiced under the guise of experimentation many times before.
Not every attempt had been a success, but whenever one failed, we investigated the cause and adjusted things so the same mistake wouldn't happen again.
Both Perugius and I were seasoned veterans by now.
Well, in my case, being a "veteran" really just meant my role was to flow mana. That was all.
"Ready on my end!"
"Nanahoshi, you understand!"
Nanahoshi turned to Perugius and nodded.
"Yes, Lord Perugius—thank you for everything up to now!"
"No need for thanks. I learned a fascinating formula in return."
That was all there was to Perugius and Nanahoshi's farewell.
The two immediately looked away.
Nanahoshi turned toward me, and Perugius signaled to his subordinates with a glance.
"Then—let's begin."
At Perugius's words, the teleportation device activated.
The procedure was the same as always.
Perugius and his subordinates all touched the magic circle simultaneously.
Once I confirmed the edges of the circle beginning to glow softly, I supplied mana at the right moment.
The mana was being devoured at an astonishing rate, but I was used to it by now.
And as I supplied mana, the magic circle grew brighter in response.
Shifting from blue to green to white, the circle blazed with light.
In the midst of that tremendous brilliance, I focused only on not making a mistake with the mana supply.
Thanks to all our repeated experiments, I had learned exactly when to supply mana.
Evenly, without waste, but never letting it fall short—I poured mana in with absolute consistency.
The magic circle emitted its usual black radiance...
Wait.
Had there ever been a black light before?
Something about this gave me a bad feeling.
"Rudeus!"
I heard Perugius shout.
The black light was growing stronger.
Should I continue, or should I stop?
I wasn't the one controlling the circle, so I couldn't tell.
"Lord Perugius! What are your orders!"
"Give me more mana—!"
I increased the mana flowing into the magic circle as instructed.
My legs went weak, my vision blurred as I flooded it with a staggering amount of mana.
The blackness of the circle didn't change.
But I felt something on the verge of overflowing transmitted through my arms.
This had never happened before.
This was bad.
What should I do? Should I cut off the mana supply on my own judgment?
But Perugius had told me to give more. I'd trust him— —Crack...!
Something burst.
And just like a breaker flipping, the magic circle lost all its light.
In an instant.
Normally, the light would fade gradually, but this time it happened in an instant.
As if something had drained away all the mana, it simply vanished.
"......"
Not everything went dark.
The candelabras placed in the four corners of the room still glowed.
But the room was engulfed in a sudden silence, like a computer whose power had been abruptly cut.
And of course.
Needless to say.
Nanahoshi was still there.
Standing in the middle of the circle, looking lost.
Everyone was stunned.
I was obviously the same, and though I couldn't see the subordinates' expressions, I could sense their bewilderment.
"......Why!"
Perugius shouted.
"Why, Rudeus Greyrat!"
"Huh?"
Me?
"Why did you cut off the mana supply midway!"
Cut off? What was he talking about?
"I was supplying mana properly."
"Then why did that kind of..."
He was saying the mana supply had vanished?
But I hadn't cut it off. If anything, I'd increased it.
What was going on? Had my body suddenly stopped releasing mana without my knowledge?
But if that were the case, the fatigue from having depleted a vast amount of mana wouldn't still be lingering in my body.
"If your mana ran out, the magic circle should have lost its light."
"That's true... You did have mana... but it didn't flow to my end... As if someone had hijacked the magic circle..."
Looking at the circle, part of it appeared cracked.
Had some kind of bug gotten into the device and short-circuited it?
No, that was absurd.
It shouldn't have been built that fragilely.
"Hmm..."
As Perugius adopted a pensive expression and propped his chin on his hand, Nanahoshi stepped down from the magic circle.
"......"
Nanahoshi said nothing.
Without a word, she set down her backpack and walked out of the chamber like a sleepwalker.
I looked at Perugius.
He was still musing.
Somehow, even the subordinates seemed to be floundering around.
What should I do?
I wanted to know the cause of the failure, but...
No, I'd leave this to Perugius.
I chased after Nanahoshi.
--- Nanahoshi was sitting on the bed in her room.
Her shoulders and head hung low.
She was looking down, so I couldn't see her color.
Her entire posture oozed exhaustion and resignation.
As for me, I felt relatively little shock from the failure.
"......"
To be honest.
I had thought there was a possibility it would fail.
The words of the me from the future.
He had said, "I failed at the very last moment."
Whether this was that moment, or whether it would come later—I didn't know.
When, where, how the failure would happen—that part was unclear.
Whether this was it or not...
I thought I should have asked at the time, but there was no use regretting it now.
Besides, the me from the future had also said he failed to follow up.
What happened to Nanahoshi after the failure—he had been vague about that, but it undoubtedly ended in a sad, helpless conclusion.
Which meant—now.
Right now, here, I needed to properly follow up with the dejected Nanahoshi.
But how?
"Failures happen to everyone, so don't dwell on it—look forward to the next one"... That was too generic.
Future me would have at least said something like that.
No, future me seemed like a pretty rough-edged person, so maybe he didn't say anything like that.
Or worse, he might have said something even more horrible and pushed Nanahoshi into a corner.
He seemed like the type—if he said something like "Well, you can't go home anyway, so be my woman" and made a move on her...
...I wanted to know what the failure case looked like.
No, I needed to think about this myself.
When there were right and wrong answers, I always wanted to know which was which, but I needed to console Nanahoshi with my own words.
Umm...
What did I usually do?
When it was
I looked up. Nanahoshi had raised her face and was staring at me with a squinting look.
...Yeah, that really did look like I was hitting on her.
"Excuse me."
I withdrew the hand that had been hovering near Nanahoshi's shoulder back to my own lap.
"So, Nanahoshi. Could I have a moment of your time?"
"What? I'm busy, you know."
"Oh, come on, don't be like that... When you're alone like this, you need to pour out your heart to someone so you can feel even a little better. It doesn't solve any problems, but whether your mind is in a healthy state when you tackle the problem afterward affects your efficiency and..."
When I glanced over at Nanahoshi, I noticed a notebook open on her lap.
What was written on the page was in Japanese.
"A Working Hypothesis for Failure at the Final Stage"
That's what it read.
"I'm glad I had you tell me in advance that I would fail."
As she said this, Nanahoshi traced the text with her finger.
"If I had failed without knowing, I would have been obsessed with the magic circle's flaws and nothing else."
Nanahoshi raised her head.
There was no trace of dejection in her face.
The exhaustion and resignation I had seen earlier must have been my imagination.
So Nanahoshi had also kept the possibility of failure in the back of her mind.
Then maybe I didn't need to console her after all?
No, I was pretty sure she had to be somewhat down...
As I was thinking this, Nanahoshi lowered her gaze back to the notebook.
"Hey, do you remember my hypothesis from when we discussed this before?"
Hypothesis, hypothesis.
What was it again? I felt like I'd heard it before.
Something outlandish, if I recalled.
I couldn't really remember.
"Sorry. What was it?"
"......"
Nanahoshi's eyes squinted at me again.
Sorry about that.
"Then let me give you the short version..."
Nanahoshi began her explanation.
It was essentially just reading what was written in the notebook.
"First, the teleportation incident in the Fittoa Region—my summoning—was something that should never have happened."
"Why did something that should never have happened occur? When I heard that you came from the future, I theorized that someone from the future sent me to the past—no, that someone 'placed me in the past.'"
"By placing someone who shouldn't exist into the past, history was altered. The world's total mana balance went haywire, and a 'correction' occurred severe enough to erase an entire territory."
Ah, I'd heard that story before.
But I'd been preoccupied with other things at the time and hadn't remembered it well.
It was an outlandish tale, but...
The fact that she was cheerfully explaining all of this—did that really mean she wasn't upset?
No, that couldn't be right.
Maybe she was a little unhinged.
I'd play along.
"Follow so far?"
"Yeah."
Nanahoshi turned the page.
Written there was "Who, and for what purpose."
"Now we get to the main point.
I theorized that someone from the future altered history.
Why 'the future'?
Because
He was sent from the 'past' and loops through the 'present.' In the present, Orsted is the strongest being there is—looping with no one intervening until he achieves victory."
Orsted had been sent by his parent, the first Dragon God.
And that first Dragon God had cast a secret technique on Orsted, making him loop for a certain period.
According to Orsted's own estimate, the only way to break free from this loop was to defeat the Human God.
As far as I knew, he hadn't succeeded yet—but one day, he would. He was the strongest, after all.
"I believe that we were sent here because of this conflict between the Dragon God and the Human God."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because the first person I met after being transferred was Orsted. And then I met you, and you drastically changed Orsted's fate. We intervened in Orsted's loop."
Orsted was looping in order to defeat the Human God.
I didn't know which side would win.
But if the losing side had altered the past as some kind of gambit...
If they had placed me and Nanahoshi here as stepping stones toward victory...
Which side would lose?
Orsted.
He was looping because he couldn't win.
Which meant—there was a possibility that the future Orsted had summoned us.
"But it wasn't Orsted. He couldn't have done it."
Right.
Because Orsted had intended to win without altering the past.
Even if he could have, if Orsted were the one making changes, he wouldn't place us in the era of his own loop—he would have placed us further back in the past.
For instance, preventing Laplace from splitting during the Second Great Human-Demon War.
Or there was the possibility that an Orsted from a loop further in the future had intervened with his past self...
But there was no reason to do that.
"The Human God couldn't have done it either. The Human God was supposed to win in this loop too... That's what Orsted said."
Orsted hadn't been aware of Geese's existence.
Because of that, he thought he was close to winning.
He never imagined he would trip over a small stone.
In this loop, without us, the Human God would have won. So the Human God had no need to change the past.
"Then who—and for what purpose?"
"That's the main point. This is nothing more than a hypothesis, but..."
Nanahoshi placed her finger on a name written in the notebook.
It read "Akito Shinohara."
Directly below that, "Seiji Kuroki" had also been written, but it was crossed out with a large X, and next to it was written "Rudeus Greyrat."
"Yesterday, when I learned your true identity, I remembered. At that time, I was being held by Aki—Akito Shinohara—but Seiji Kuroki had been pulled out of the truck's path by you. In other words, he may not have been transferred."
"The three of us hit by that truck.
Two of them are present here.
But the remaining one is not in this world."
"And you were transferred ten years before I was...
Which means, the three of us who were transferred at the same time were each sent to different time periods."
I was reincarnated, actually...
But well, the basic idea wasn't that different.
"If you were transferred before me, it's also possible that I was transferred after someone else.
That's right—Akito Shinohara was transferred to the far future.
And Akito Shinohara met Orsted.
For the first time in this loop, Orsted experienced a change.
And after taking Akito Shinohara as an ally, Orsted realized he couldn't defeat the Human God... and took action to win."
A person from the future had altered the past.
"...And that led to the disappearance of the Fittoa Region? Is this Akito Shinohara some kind of esper who can alter history?"
"He can't. But just as we met all sorts of people in this era, he must have met all sorts of people too.
Including someone who had the power to alter history..."
A Mortal Disaster.
That word flashed through my mind.
When I'd seen
But Millis's Mortal Disaster could read someone's memories just by looking into their eyes.
Or perhaps there existed a Mortal Disaster with the power to alter history—and that wouldn't be unusual at all.
"Did Orsted say he had any idea who this person might be?"
"He did. He said there was a 'Mortal Disaster who could rewind the time of objects.'"
Rewind the time of objects...
It was a bit different from what I had imagined.
Different, but it was definitely a Mortal Disaster connected to time.
"However, that Mortal Disaster had the weakest fate of anyone, and died without being able to do anything..."
"And Akito Shinohara saved them."
Something clicked into place, like a lock snapping shut.
This Akito Shinohara person had met that Mortal Disaster.
Then, if we further assumed he met Orsted and developed some kind of magical tool that amplified the Mortal Disaster's abilities...
Nanahoshi had cooperated with Perugius to build a more powerful teleportation device.
I had met
It was the same kind of thing.
And then, using that power, the past was altered...
"...But how does that connect to today's failure?"
"That's what I'm getting at."
Nanahoshi turned the page again.
Written there was "My future if I fail to return."
"I was thinking. Just as I searched for Akito Shinohara, perhaps Akito Shinohara was searching for me."
"Oh?"
"Well, it's just a hypothesis...
The idea is that 'because I'm destined to return with Akito Shinohara in the future, I can't go back yet.' Or 'until I build something, I can't return.' Or maybe both."
In other words...
Let me organize this.
The future.
For some reason, a person named Akito Shinohara was summoned.
Shinohara-san ended up cooperating with Orsted.
But he realized that in the current state, they couldn't defeat the Human God.
Looking into the cause, it lay in the past.
So they amplified the Mortal Disaster's power and altered the past.
...And probably, that was when I was summoned.
At that point, the Human God foresaw a future where he would be killed by my descendants.
And Akito Shinohara, together with Orsted and my descendants, defeated the Human God.
But then a problem arose.
There was no way to return to the original world.
So Akito Shinohara used the Mortal Disaster's power once more.
The one summoned was Nanahoshi, who desperately wanted to go home.
With her passionate desire to return, she created a teleportation magic circle.
But perhaps she had pushed things too far in the process.
And so, the Fittoa Region disappeared...
Thinking about it that way, I felt irritation toward Akito Shinohara.
If this hypothesis was correct, the Fittoa Region disappeared because of Shinohara's selfish reasons.
It was only a hypothesis, though.
No...
Even so, I couldn't blame him.
Perhaps Akito Shinohara had been pushed to the absolute brink, and altering the past was the only option.
In a dire situation on the verge of defeat, with the resolve of someone facing death, he changed the past to protect something precious.
After coming to this world, I had gained precious things.
A wife. Children. A sister.
To protect them, I had become one of Orsted's subordinates.
Orsted turned out to be a surprisingly decent person, but what if he had been evil to the core?
What if everything he ordered me to do was unconscionable?
I would have done it. To protect my family, I would have obeyed any command.
It was the same thing.
What you hold most precious differs from person to person.
"I see... So, Nanahoshi. If this hypothesis is correct, what are you going to do?"
"Well... If 'until I build something, I can't return' is the case, then I believe I've fulfilled that role. With the completion of that teleportation device. I don't intend to build anything else."
A role...
If Nanahoshi's role was the completion of the teleportation device, then what was my role?
Guiding Orsted to victory?
Or perhaps it all distilled down to a single point: killing Geese...
I only thought that because Geese was currently weighing on my mind.
For all I knew, there might be other hidden Human God apostles besides Geese.
"But I couldn't go back. So I think it means 'there's still something left to do.'"
"Mm."
"This is wishful thinking, but I believe that 'something' is 'sending Akito Shinohara back to the original world in the future.'"
"Hmm?"
"Think about it, right? I built the device. But if he doesn't know how to use it, he can't return either."
Well...
Yeah, even with a mana tank like me, operating a magic device alone would be difficult.
And Perugius probably wouldn't be alive by then.
But wasn't that line of thinking a bit too convenient?
All he'd need to do was create a manual.
"Or perhaps... 'because I already exist in the future.'"
Ah, that explanation felt cleaner.
It was a time paradox—if she went back now, the future Nanahoshi couldn't exist.
If the future had altered the past, then the future took priority, which was why the magic device had behaved erratically and shut down.
"But as things stand now, I can't survive eighty years. There's the disease to think about."
Nanahoshi said this and glanced at the cup in the corner of the room.
It was easy to forget, but Nanahoshi's body was afflicted with Druin disease.
An otherworldly AIDS.
Currently, drinking tea made from Soka grass daily kept the symptoms at bay.
But there was no telling when or what kind of illness might strike.
Eighty years was an especially long time. The chances of survival were slim.
"So what will you do?"
"That's why."
Nanahoshi told me.
Her proposed solution.
"I'm going to ask Lord Perugius to stop my time."
One of Perugius's subordinates—Scarecrow, the one who ruled time.
A spirit under Perugius's command, possessing the ability to freeze the time of whoever they touched.
Using that power, Nanahoshi would be kept in suspended animation.
Not forever, of course.
The period when Perugius couldn't afford to keep Scarecrow idle was when Laplace revived.
If all went according to schedule, Laplace would revive in eighty years—at the earliest, fifty years.
And since Orsted needed to defeat Laplace before he could reach the Human God, and if Shinohara-san was going to help with that...
Nanahoshi would awaken at the perfect timing.
"Also, Rudeus. I have a request."
"...A request?"
What was it?
"I want you to make sure Akito Shinohara doesn't overlook my existence.
Leave something in a book, or erect a stone tablet—anything works.
And regarding the teleportation magic circle, it's taboo, but I'd like it to be made public and for research to advance."
"...Is that necessary?"
"Not all of my hypothesis has to be correct, right? Actually, it would be stranger if everything was right. Assume eighty percent of it is delusion and take out insurance. In case the hypothesis is wrong, I want to be able to return properly when eighty years have passed."
This hypothesis felt quite credible to me.
Not everything would be on the mark, but I had a sense that some of it fit.
But still—yes.
Not everything had to be right.
There was no guarantee Shinohara-san would be transferred here.
The real reason Nanahoshi couldn't return might actually be flaws in the magic circle itself.
I thought it was perfect now, but there could be problems that required a breakthrough to solve.
"Of course, I plan to wake up a few times a year to check on the situation, and things may change, in which case I might ask you to do something different..."
Situations changed.
The current hypothesis might not hold.
And I wanted to help Nanahoshi return home with everything I could.
At least while I was still alive.
After all, I'd entrusted her with a letter.
"I understand."
I nodded.
--- Afterward, we tried one more time.
After examining the magic device once more, we attempted to send Nanahoshi.
There was no problem with the magic circle.
No damage was found, and it functioned normally after inspection.
But still, it failed.
As if something were interfering, the mana ran out.
My end was fine, so unless Perugius was lying, someone from the future really was sabotaging us.
...It better not be the Human God's doing.
And so, Nanahoshi's return ended in failure.
No—perhaps it was more accurate to say it didn't end.
After the failure, Nanahoshi told Perugius she would go to sleep.
I had expected Perugius to object, but he was surprisingly accepting.
When Nanahoshi asked to borrow Scarecrow's power and said she would enter sleep, Perugius merely showed a fleeting look of resignation before muttering, "Very well."
Perhaps they had already discussed it beforehand.
What she would do if she failed.
"Then, Rudeus—Lord Perugius, I'm counting on you for everything else."
With those final, straightforward words, Nanahoshi vanished into her room.
From now on, she would wake each time Scarecrow's mana ran out.
Roughly once a month.
Given how distant our relationship had been these past few years, it wouldn't feel particularly lonely.
More like she'd moved somewhere a little far away.
I wouldn't feel lonely, but something else was swirling in my chest.
What was this?
Somehow, I just couldn't shake it.
"Rudeus Greyrat."
Still carrying that restless feeling, I was about to bid farewell to Perugius and leave the floating fortress when I was called back.
"I despise words like 'fate.'"
"............I hate them too."
He said this abruptly.
I didn't know why he brought it up now, but I nodded.
The idea that everything I'd done so far had been in the palm of someone else's hand—I didn't even want to think about it.
"The notion that the past is determined by the future is absurd. How could such a thing be allowed to exist."
Perugius glared bitterly at the door where Nanahoshi had disappeared.
"That way of thinking mocks the past and debases the present. I refuse to accept it."
"That's a strong stance for someone who so readily lent Nanahoshi one of his subordinates."
"Hmph."
Perugius let out a snort.
With a stern expression, he fixed his gaze on me.
"I maintain that there was a flaw in the magic circle."
"......"
"Nanahoshi may have given up, but I have not. While she sleeps, I will perfect that magic circle. On my honor as the Dragon King."
It seemed Perugius was motivated.
His eyes, though somewhat dark, held a fire in them.
"However, regrettably, my total mana reserves are far inferior to yours, Rudeus Greyrat. I'll need you to lend me your strength."
"...Of course. But Lord Perugius—why are you going to such lengths for Nanahoshi?"
At my question, Perugius seemed momentarily taken aback, as if he'd lost himself.
Perhaps he didn't fully understand why either, and he looked away.
Then, as if something had come to mind, he furrowed his brow.
"To the past, the present is the future. One's past self created the present. And the present creates the future. I simply want to prove my disciple's foolish thinking wrong and set it straight. Consider it a way to pass the time until Laplace's revival."
Foolish thinking.
Or maybe Perugius saw Nanahoshi's actions as something like unfaithfulness.
She was giving up now, but if the world changed enough in the future, maybe things would work out.
A naive way of thinking.
"...Understood. I'll cooperate."
"I won't thank you."
"That's fine."
There was something satisfying about this exchange, and I smiled softly.
Nanahoshi probably wouldn't return home while I was alive.
But if—hypothetically—she couldn't return, there would still be someone to look after her.
That fact somehow made me happy.
--- And so, Nanahoshi went to sleep.
She went to the future.
It felt like things were settled, yet something lingered.
A strange sensation remained.
Maybe, with or without me, Nanahoshi would have ended up going to the future anyway.
The future me had looked so sad, so maybe the hypothesis was never revealed, and Perugius simply told her that she had taken her own life...
Well, regardless—one chapter had closed.
Perugius would continue his research, and Nanahoshi probably had her own plans for the future...
But an ending was an ending.
I needed to move on.
Nanahoshi had thought for herself and chosen her own path.
I needed to do what I had to do as well.
Alright.
Next was Sword God Gal Farion's place.
I'd go with
Simple is best.
It was a little unsettling not having backup, but I'd heard the Sword Sanctum wasn't full of brainy types.
In that case, it was best to go with people who could settle things with fists.
But before that, I had to report to Orsted.
About what choice Nanahoshi had made.
He had probably already heard about her hypothesis...
Even so, I needed to report the results.
Thinking this, I made my way to Orsted's office.
"Ah, Chairman Rudeus! Good work today!"
When I entered the lobby, the reception girl bowed her head.
That kid had a lot of energy.
"The president is waiting for you inside."
"Right."
Acknowledging her, I entered the president's office.
Inside, I closed the door, spread my feet shoulder-width apart, placed my hands behind my back.
As always, I bowed my head to Orsted, who sat behind his desk.
"I have a report."
"...Go ahead."
"Nanahoshi's return failed. She believes the cause lies in the future and has entered a state of suspended animation using the abilities of Scarecrow, the time spirit subordinate of Perugius."
"I see."
Orsted slowly removed his helmet.
He pressed his hand to his temple and let out a long sigh.
"What did Perugius say?"
"He maintains that there was a flaw in the magic circle, and that he will improve it and send Nanahoshi home..."
"Is that all?"
"He also said that the past being determined by the future is something that should never happen."
"Of course. That's exactly what Perugius would say."
Orsted's voice, as he said this, carried more emotion than usual.
No—it was his usual expressionless face and flat tone, but there was something in it.
"I understand about Nanahoshi. What about you?"
"For now, I'll think about Nanahoshi's situation as it develops.
As for me, I'd like to go to Sword God Gal Farion's place.
I'll need the details as usual."
"I see... I've compiled some information on Gal Farion."
Orsted pulled a bundle of papers from a cabinet.
He was well-prepared as always.
I appreciated it, but somehow it felt like it should be the other way around.
Aren't I supposed to be the one doing the research?
Well, it was a bit late for that now.
"Thank you. I'll make use of this."
"As the documents state—avoid fighting Gal Farion."
"Understood."
"And then... hm?"
Orsted's gaze suddenly shifted to the side.
My eyes followed.
There, stones were arranged in orderly rows.
They looked like gravestones, but they were the communication stone tablets I had set up in various locations.
Beneath each tablet, the name of where it had been placed was written.
Though they had been manageable when it was just the
This was less an office and more a server room.
Orsted's gaze was fixed on a particular point.
One of the stone tablets was emitting a faint light.
The corresponding tablet was at the fortress of Atophe.
The message inscribed was brief.
"We've captured Kishirika Kishirisu."