1. The First Letter (37)
The midday academy was always crowded. It didn’t matter whether it was a weekday or a weekend.
In the middle of the academy site, where the central library and the student center were located, this place was particularly frequented by passers-by. First of all, it was the center of the academy, and the student hall had various shops that students could use.
The tea I now roll through a straw was also purchased at one of those stores. At a small table installed outside the student union building, students in groups of two to three were chatting.
In a peaceful moment, Opposite me was Leto, as always.
“… … So, did you leave them alone and just come?”
Leto had a pathetic face. If you leave it as it is, it looks like it will even bite your tongue. I sighed and scratched my head.
“No, then what? The two of them were excited, and I was also very annoyed.”
Hearing that, Leto licked his lips as if he was stumped, but soon turned his head away with a look of resignation.
Only the sound of him sucking his drink through a straw resounded alone. Immediately, Leto raised his hands and lamented.
“Good, good. you are now graduating Descend.”
“What do you mean?”
In response to my absurd response, Leto looked even more bewildered and said to me.
“No, the two most beautiful flowers in the second year of the academy are fighting over a man, so how can I call you a disciple? And then you told them not to look for you for a while?”
Wow, Leto shook his head in admiration. Soon, his expression was crumpled.
“You’re doing the push and pull very well. But this baby, no matter how much you do not do it to Celine. ”
It was a bit like that, but I felt a little bit of regret creeping in.
In fact, when I came back to the dorm and thought about it, I thought it was not something to be angry about skipping until morning. In particular, the image of Seria being restless still lingered in his mind.
She was particularly immature in human relationships. I was worried that those words would not have been accepted as an unreasonable expression of the declaration of breaking up relations.
I chuckled and sucked the drink through the straw. A refreshing scent tickled the tip of his nose. At least it made my head feel a little clearer.
Seeing my worried expression, Leto let out a deep sigh. It was a face that made it difficult to say anything more. After being silent for a moment, he seemed to have decided to change his thoughts in a slightly positive direction.
Suddenly he started giggling and laughing. My questioning gaze turned to him.
There was a strange feeling in Leto’s green eyes. Feeling like a bad boy.
“no no. Come to think of it, how many times have you been so angry with Celine?”
“Well, not really.”
The last time they fought in the hospital room, but in the end there were minor misunderstandings, and Celine was the one who got angry at the end.
I’ve never been so unilaterally angry as I am today. Maybe that’s why I remembered that Celine also looked at me with a little shocked look.
Thinking about that expression made me sick again. Seria was also Seria, but Celine was also a friend who went through life and death with me. It was after fighting her, so I had no choice but to be concerned.
That’s what being friends is. It is enough to cut off a relationship that is not a big deal, but the more solid the string, the more I feel empty and uncomfortable when it falls away.
However, contrary to my complex mind, Leto was only happy.
“Hey, is it worth seeing?”
“what?”
To my brief question, Leto answered without erasing his giggling smile.
“Of course, how Celine will turn out! I must be very dry right now. Doesn’t a competitor appear, doesn’t it cause hatred after fighting excitedly… … .”
“How do I hate Celine?”
“That’s what you think, and Celine must be biting her nails nervously by now.”
I laughed and tried to deny Leto’s words, but I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut again.
Well, since Leto is like Celine’s older brother, he should have known Celine better than I did.
Still, I couldn’t easily believe it. That Celine, who is always bold and sociable, is nervous?
I had no imagination. I still couldn’t help but shake my head in disbelief.
As if Leto knew it, he didn’t force his faith on me anymore. He only left me with one request.
“Hey, stay right next to me today. I’ll see how Celine turns out, really.”
His voice when he said that was so cheerful. It was a voice full of will to make fun of Celine. Anyway, Celine’s unhappiness seemed to be his happiness.
Of course, if Celine was in a really serious situation, she would be the first to freeze.
Isn’t that what family is all about? At this point, I decided to slowly change the topic.
“Rather than that, Leto.”
“yes?”
To my voice, which seemed to be casual, Leto also responded with a nonchalant voice. But inside I was a little nervous.
It was because I thought the story I was bringing up now would sound nonsense. In fact, the last time I told Leto, the reaction wasn’t good.
However, it was impossible for me to carry this heavy burden alone. He had to have at least one trusted colleague so he could share his concerns.
If so, there was only one person I could confide my concerns to first.
My best friend who is smarter than me, knows a lot, and has wide feet, so I hear a lot of news.
Leto Ainstern, there was no one else.
“What would you think if a letter came from the future?”
“Ah?”
Leto held a straw in his mouth and then uttered such a question as if he was saying something strange. After frowning and thinking for a moment, he put down the drink he was drinking.
he said with a puzzled look.
“You, you mean the one you said in front of Emma’s bed last time? Are you still in shock?”
“No, Leto. Are you real? Come on, look.”
I took out the love letter that I had been keeping in my arms. Old-fashioned stationery, neat handwriting. It was a letter apparently written by a cultured noble lady.
No matter how much I wanted to tell a lie, it would take quite a bit of effort to recreate it. And, as Leto was well aware, I wasn’t the kind of person who liked to joke that much.
Leto frowned and looked at me as if asking what he was doing. I pointed at the stationery I held out with a wink.
“So what.”
“No, I want you to take this? This is a letter from that future… … .”
Leto’s face turned serious. He looked back and forth between my hand and face, then sighed and leaned back against the backrest.
And he said in a voice mixed with a sigh.
“Nothing?”
What are you talking about, the moment I was about to ask that.
Leto got up and leaned his upper body. And I ran my palm over my outstretched hand.
Then Leto’s hand penetrated the letter. It’s like plowing through empty space. My eyes widened.
It was incomprehensible to my common sense. Things that have physical substance to me, but not to others?
It was a natural result that Leto’s expression hardened. he said in a serious voice.
“Hey, shouldn’t you get a mental evaluation? I think it was a big shock then, when Emma was attacked… … .”
“No, because it is not! Well, the last time I subjugated the monsters, I followed the instructions in this letter. Just because the Witchbeast is attacking!”
I was taken aback and tried to come up with an excuse, but Leto’s expression was more serious than sad. If I continued like this, I would be forced to seek psychological counseling.
It was frustrating for me too. Is this really true? Or is it not an illusion created posthumously? Even I have not been able to completely dispel those doubts.
However, the monster’s attack during the swordsmanship training class was not something I could have foreseen. It was no accident, and even I still have vivid memories of the nightmare I had that day.
Those tired golden eyes.
It gave me a strange confidence. You must not ignore this letter. However, I was in a situation where even the person who could help me the most could not trust me.
I couldn’t be sure of things in the past. So I recited the contents of the future in the letter.
“So, Leto. You may not believe it now, but according to this letter, it is said that a powerful demon will appear at this year’s hunting festival.”
“Hunting? Ah, come to think of it, I heard that the 4th graders who were sent out are slowly returning for the hunting festival.”
“… … ?”
I shut my mouth again at Leto’s reaction. When my curious gaze turned to him, Leto stared blankly at me as if asking why.
Frustrated, I got up from my seat and recited the contents of the letter. a little louder.
“A powerful witch appears at this year’s hunting festival?”
“So the hunting festival is coming soon. I know, is there any academy student who doesn’t know that? What does that matter?”
My God, I lost my words and sat down on the spot.
There was a strange gap between what I said and what Leto had heard. When I tried to convey the information in the letter, the story seemed to be replaced with something similar but completely different.
How is that possible?
In fact, it doesn’t make sense for a love letter to come from the future, but seeing this level of distortion happen right in front of my eyes made me feel confused.
As I blankly lowered my gaze, Leto swallowed his saliva with a serious expression. He seemed to be wondering if I was out of my mind or if I should take my words seriously.
He sighed immediately. As if he had made up his mind, he said.
“Hey, Ian. If what you say is true… … .”
“… … Are you really right?”
When I responded with a slightly agitated voice, Leto nodded as if to calm down. He continued speaking in a low voice.
“If that’s the case, there’s a high possibility that time was distorted because it was limited to you.”
At those words, I looked at Leto with incomprehensible eyes. Then Leto clicked his tongue with a tsk. Even if he didn’t say it, it was obvious what he was thinking.
‘This is why I can’t go to the swordsmanship department’, he began to explain to me.
“It is difficult to distort space-time even with magic. Is it even possible with the highest level of magic? Even that is limited in scope. But the fact that a letter came from the distant future means that information has been delivered.”
“Information was passed on, why is that?”
Leto sipped his drink from there. He seemed to be still struggling with whether or not to take my story seriously. However, it was my friend.
He continued to explain.
“The mere fact that information from the future has been passed on has created tremendous distortions in the world. For example, did you say that you did what you did after seeing what was in the letter to subdue the beasts?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then, how did the demons be subdued in the future from which the letter came? Are you reading the letter again?”
“Yeah, I guess… … ?”
Leto shook his head at my lack of confidence. It meant wrong answer. he opened his mouth again.
“Time is not that simple. In the first place, without the past of reading the letter, the future of subjugating the demons will not happen. Then wouldn’t it happen that I write a letter from the future and send it to you? The causal relationship of the incident itself is trapped. Like a circle.”
“… … ?”
I couldn’t help but look at Leto with eyes that I still couldn’t understand. Leto spat out a small curse once, perhaps feeling frustrated, then shook his head and said to me.
“You don’t have to understand. simply think… So, the point is that that information alone makes the distortion enormous. The amount of mana required to correct it is even greater. So, in order to minimize the scope of the distortion, I limited the scope of time reversal, and that became you as an individual.”
“Is that possible?”
“They said a letter came from the future, does that make sense?”
My mouth was shut at once. Leto was still looking at me with doubtful eyes, but for a moment, he let me know what he had deduced in his own way.
“So, if what you say is true, you can’t show me the letter no matter how much you want to. Then the scale of the distortion would increase, so it was blocked in the first place. Of course, there may be a way around it, but… … .”
Hmm, Leto thought while tapping the table with his index finger. After a while, he scratched his head and shook his head vigorously.
“There is no way I can think of right now. Anyway, that’s it. I’ll find out once, so don’t try too hard. Of course, if I had to bet, I would bet on you being crazy.”
“Don’t do that, really. I’m serious… … .”
In the end, the fact that I found out from the conversation with Leto that day was as follows.
Love letters only come to me. And no one but me can see it. It is impossible to convey the contents of the letter as it conveys future information to the past.
It was a devastating fact. So, does that mean I have no choice but to shoulder the contents of this letter alone?
My head got complicated. My shoulders were heavy. So far so good. Even the hunting festival, I didn’t know if I could manage to do it somehow. But what if the contents of that love letter were true?
What if I had to prevent the end of the world?
Whether that’s possible or not, I was just the second son of a country viscount. At most, that was the limit of my bowl.
However, suddenly preventing the destruction of the world, I couldn’t even laugh.
It was when I was walking around like that.
I suddenly noticed the presence of people. Actually, I had been noticing it for a while, but I couldn’t call her carelessly because my thoughts weren’t organized yet.
But now, it is an alley with few people before you know it. It might be time to talk slowly.
“… … Come out, Seria.”
Then, from behind a building far away from me, a girl appeared hesitantly.
It was Seria. She was looking at me with a nervous expression.
It was a desperate look.