Chapter 77: Promise (4)
“… … Hello, Elodie.”
I greeted her face to face.
It was truly a greeting that felt like it had been a long time since I last greeted you.
The monster burned and gradually lost its shape. In addition to the fact that Elodie’s magic is strong, it is probably proof that she has overcome her trauma.
“You know, Frontier.”
Elodie told me.
“When you said you were sorry to me, when you brought up the topic of ‘promise’.”
This is the story before leaving the cabin.
A little while ago, Elodie shed a lot of tears.
“At that time, I knew this was a dream.”
“… … !”
Elodie pulled her lips awkwardly.
“I wasn’t sure, but whatever. That’s what I thought. ‘There’s no way Frontier would say this to me.’”
Ahahahaha, laugh out loud.
I looked at that and thought.
‘… … I see.’
Elodie is more than the sun and moon rotating quickly, or the Milky Way continuing to flow across the blue sky.
I thought it was even more unrealistic to hear those words from Frontier.
“I heard that from you.”
What did Elodie think of me who was silent, she continued in a calm voice.
“I wanted to be forgiven by you.”
“… … “Elodie.”
“I even created you in my dreams so that I could hear that one word from you.”
Elodie looked at me forlornly.
Elodie realized that this was a dream and overcame her trauma.
She believed that I, who was now in front of her, was also a fake she had created.
“What do you think? Frontier.”
Elodie turned her anxious eyes towards me.
With eyes full of anxiety and small expectations.
“Is it really you who is in front of me right now?”
“… … .”
“In a world where everyone has forgotten me, are you the only one who noticed me and came to save me?”
For a moment, I couldn’t answer what he said.
It’s not difficult to be honest. If only I could grant Elodie’s wish with that.
… … but.
“That’s right, Elodie.”
No matter how sincerely I answer.
“I came into this dream to save you.”
How true this statement is.
“… … hehehehe.”
Elodie eventually smiles bitterly and mutters:
“Yeah, I guess you’d say that either way. Because that’s what I’m hoping for.”
In this place in Elodie’s dream, it is up to her to decide whether I am real or fake.
The more I move and speak according to Elodie’s wishes, the less certain she is of my existence.
‘Elodie fell asleep in the cabin on her own to ask me for help.’
It was the best location choice for her.
A place where there is a connection with me and where no one else exists and so my mana is not interfered with. In the end, since I’m here, I guess I made a good choice.
But apart from that, there are a lot of mountains I have to overcome if I really want to be here.
In the first place, I have to realize that Elodie has disappeared from the world, come to this cabin that Elodie chose, and find Elodie who cannot be seen or heard by any means, and there is no need to interfere with the magic called ‘interminable sleep’. It should be possible.
All of these conditions are completely impossible for the Frontier that Elodie knows.
Because Elodie is so wise, she probably realizes it herself.
I want to believe that the person I am now is not an illusion created by Elodie, but the chances of that happening are very slim.
“… … Elodie, it’s time to wake up.”
I said.
There is no need to prove that I am the real me.
Elodie relaxed her heart. I overcame the trauma.
There is no point in insisting that I am real anymore.
Because Elodie is okay now.
“huh. yes.”
Knowing that, Elodie smiled brightly. Where her eyes turned, there was an empty spot where the monster had disappeared.
A door was born there.
“If you go out there, you will wake up from your dream.”
I nodded. I also knew that that monster was an escape route for Elodie to wake up.
That’s why I asked Elodie.
“Elodie, why did you use a spell like ‘Infinite Hibernation’? “It must have been dangerous magic.”
If she had just waited in the cabin, in a world where no one knew of her existence, wouldn’t she have been able to receive help when I arrived?
I thought so, but Elodie shook her head.
“It was more dangerous to stay still in that world.”
Elodie continued speaking.
“Osprit’s magic is a magic that makes it natural for him to be gone after he leaves the world. That’s why Ospreet wasn’t worried about the dangers of this magic. “After he left the world.”
“Risks.”
“huh. However, when someone still in the world becomes caught up in his magic, the world changes its causality to suit this magic. “I exist in the world, but since it has been treated as non-existent, I change it accordingly.”
And when magic activates causality, it always fixes something smaller and simpler.
Rather than making the entire world recognize the existence of Elodie, it is easier to erase one Elodie.
“I realized this because I fell under this spell, but as a human being, if you miss the mark for even a second, you lose everyone’s perception.”
“1 second?”
“huh. To put it simply, my body alone goes back to the past.”
It is said that Elodie at the time the magic was activated was not much different from her original self.
She didn’t look like a girl like she does now, she was just like she was in the second year of Etius. Still, people didn’t recognize her.
And as time goes by, she can see that she is getting younger and younger, and she has decided that this will not stop.
“The reason magic makes me younger is to make me disappear. So, I had to choose the method that best conserves mana.”
“… … “That was ‘hibernation.’”
“From a magic point of view, I would suppress mana loss as much as possible to slow down my aging process, and from a delusional point of view, since I sleep alone in a place with no one around, I don’t interfere with the world, so wouldn’t you please take care of it? “That was my intention.”
Even if it was truly a delusion, Elodie’s thoughts seemed to work anyway. It is said that there is not much difference between the body right before hibernation and now.
“Then if I keep going like this, won’t I become young again?”
“That’s probably okay.”
“why?”
“Because you noticed me.”
I blinked at those words.
Elodie smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t know if the person in front of me right now is really you, but I can’t escape this magic alone. Someone outside needs to wake me up. The fact that that door has now appeared in front of us is proof that you are in the real cabin. “There are other people in that world who know me, so it’ll be okay for now.”
“… … I see.”
“Of course, there is an ignorant way to use the same magic to enter this dream and escape together, but that is too dangerous.”
Ahahahaha, Elodie smiled and muttered, ‘When you think about it that way, it seems like I created the person you are today.’
… … No, wait.
“Was there another way besides that?”
“huh? There is a way to dispel all magic. You’re doing the magic in reverse order. No matter how complicated and tightly entangled the knot is, there is no such thing as a knot that can never be undone, right? Of course, ‘intermittent sleep’ is a very complicated knot, but trying to unravel it is better than recklessly entering the dream together.”
… … May, that guy didn’t say anything on purpose. It’s difficult to break the spell, and even if you try, you don’t know how long it will take.
Was that the hesitation I showed just before entering? I think he was wondering whether he should tell me that or not. If you try to solve the spell and the time runs out, it’s worse than not doing it at all.
‘It’s a little surprising.’
May is not human. The time we met was so short that we didn’t even have a friendship.
So maybe you don’t know why you thought about it. It has nothing to do with whether I make a dangerous choice for Mei, who is not inherently human.
But May tried to stop me. Because I’m dangerous.
“How did you get caught up in magic?”
“Hmm. That’s the problem. “I think the trigger was the realization that Ospreet was lost in reality, but it seems like you noticed it too.”
Yes. For that reason, if Elodie is caught up in magic, I too must be caught up in it.
However, Elodie spoke with a refreshing expression.
“Well, if you think about it here, you won’t find an answer. “Let’s get out first!”
“okay.”
The two of us walked side by side.
At first, I thought about opening the door, but I thought it was up to Elodie to do it.
When Elodie opens the door, white light pours in. I felt it intuitively. After passing through this door, you wake up from your dream.
I felt a feeling similar to the uplifting feeling I usually get right before waking up.
“… … “Let’s go, Frontier.”
Elodie said that and took a step forward, and I followed suit.
In the pure white light, Elodie’s voice was heard along with a slow sense of elation.
“Fron.”
Elodie called me ‘Fron’.
Just like the name you used to call me when I was young.
There were so many emotions packed into that single word, I didn’t know how much of it all.
“Someday, to the real you, to the real you.”
I couldn’t answer anything to that. There was no time for that.
“I want to be forgiven.”
The voice seemed to have permeated with pure white light and moved away.
I slowly closed my eyes.
* * *
I thought I would wake up like that.
[Before you go.]
I opened my eyes in darkness, a perfect contrast to the pure white light.
[I wanted to meet you. Frontier de Roach.]
What was before my eyes was a very large man.
I was floating in the air, and a man was standing above me like a mountain, looking down at me.
It was just too big to say it was big. If I added everything from head to toe, it would be about the length of his palm. A man of that size was looking at me with me positioned at about the same level as his chest.
[This incident is a little unexpected.]
I didn’t know who he was. Without knowing anything, I made some guesses.
I was trying to wake up from Elodie’s dream. A huge man I met along the way.
“… … “Is it one out of five?”
[Ahahahaha! also. I like it because you understand it quickly, Frontier.]
This man is one of the five gods.
The five gods who love Elodhi are Indra, Agni, Rudra, Chandra, and Vishnu.
It will be one of these five.
[You can use your brain and try not to guess who it is, Frondier.]
After saying that, the man bowed his head deeply to me.
The man, so huge, exuded overwhelming force with just that simple movement.
[I am Rudra. Of the five, he is the one who talked to Elodie the most. It’s true.]
… … Rudra. He is the god of storms.
‘Storm City’, one of Elodie’s long-term magic spells, is strongly imbued with the power of Rudra.
The reason Elodie uses it with confidence may be because she is closest to Rudra.
“… … Right. Rudra.”
[It’s also refreshing that humans don’t treat me with respect.]
“If they were gods, they didn’t show respect to anyone.”
[ha ha ha! that’s right. It did. That is Frontier de Roach.]
It seems that my fame has spread to gods in completely different worlds. Beyond Greece and Northern Europe, it is now India.
At this point, I’m even worried that all the gods know my name.
[But Frondier, why did you do that when you’re so smart?]
“… … “What do you mean?”
[I thought you wanted to save this continent. I don’t know how you came to this insight, but you’ve noticed that the future of this continent isn’t that bright, right? When you see him struggling so hastily to become stronger, it only seems like that.]
Rudra tilted his head.
I was rather skeptical. That feeling still remains unchanged. Because I have to save the continent to survive.
But Rudra’s words actually make it seem as if I have abandoned that feeling.
“I will still save the continent. “I will drive out demons and save humanity.”
[…] … Hmm. Then I don’t understand it any more.]
Rudra seemed to be thinking deeply and said:
[Then why did you eliminate Elodie’s trauma?]
“… … what?”
[Elodie became stronger because of that. You would know best. Even with the help of the gods, our help will be of no use unless Elodie manifests magic herself and learns the skills. Elodie became stronger thanks to that trauma.]
I quietly looked at Rudra’s expression as he said that.
… … This guy has no hostility towards Elodie. Moreover, it is not that they have any hostility towards me.
Rudra was racking his brain as if he was genuinely trying to figure out my intentions.
[Just because Elodie was traumatized doesn’t mean she’ll actually die or get hurt. If you wanted to get out of the dream, you had to kill the monster with your own hands. Then, Elodie’s trauma will one day create a monster again, and Elodie will become stronger to overcome it.]
Rudra spoke as if searching for the optimal answer. As if trying to read my intentions accurately.
[Elodie’s trauma was absolutely necessary to save the continent. It is the most powerful force that makes Elodie grow. You eliminated Elodie’s trauma and weakened her motivation at the same time.]
Rudra said that and looked at me.
[You have continued to make excellent judgments so far. While watching, I was amazed over and over again. To save humanity and to become stronger, he moved recklessly and boldly, and eventually gained strength. So it’s a question. You are such a wise person, but I don’t understand this incident at all.]
Rudra praised all my past experiences and after observing them and judging me as ‘wise’, he asked me:
Why did you save Elodie? Called.