Chapter 361: Epilogue (4)

#12. Past

... On that day five years ago, as the greatest star in the world set, Deculein died. Without a shred of a doubt, without any way to turn back the clock, Sophien witnessed that all too certain final moment of his death.

Whoooooosh—

From the end of the winter mountain, at a snowline altitude where her body was scattered by the frigid cold northern winds, Sophien witnessed the scene inside Rohakan’s cabin where a warm bonfire was burning, with a sight that surpassed a human's.

—

Brother.

Sophien took in the sight of Yeriel calling out to Deculein, the sight of Deculein smiling at her, and the sight of their last conversation with her own two eyes.

—

Yeriel.

Deculein called Yeriel, who had come to him, and he silently reached out a hand to comfort the child who was mourning.

—

... Why have you been hiding all this time?

Yeriel asked, her voice trying not to break but cracking with tears.

—

I was not in hiding.

Deculein replied.

At that moment, Ellie stepped toward them and gave Deculein a slight nod—a small, simple gesture of greeting that carried more weight than a hundred words—and Deculein met her eyes with a light nod, and with that, their greeting was over.

—

I was waiting here.

Deculein continued to speak to Yeriel.

The emotion in the word

waiting

was so tender, affectionate, and warm that Sophien rested her chin on her hand with a smile, exactly as Deculein once treated his own sibling, even though Yeriel was without a doubt not related to him by blood.

—

... I see you have been doing well.

Deculein’s voice was filled with warmth, and with every syllable, every resonance, that warmth glittered like light.

—

You think... I'm doing well?

Yeriel replied, sobbing at Deculein's compliment.

However, it was impossible to tell from Yeriel’s expression whether she was happy or sad, even with the teardrops hanging from her wide eyes.

—

Have you been watching over me?

Yeriel took a firm hold of Deculein’s hand, and tears shimmered as they fell onto their clasped hands.

—

Was I... doing a good job?

Yeriel was waiting for Deculein’s reply, looking in a way that was too childish for a woman who had raised Yukline to a great house of the Empire.

—

Yes, Yeriel.

Deculein replied.

—

You are doing well. You have always done so, and you will continue to do so.

Deculein continued, saying to Yeriel that she was doing well, really, that she was doing well.

—

Therefore, you have no reason to be sad, and I am not worried about you either.

Deculein smiled, lightly got up, and held Yeriel in his arms.

—

Because you are my sister.

From that moment onward, there was only a loud, unending sobbing, with Yeriel unable to compose herself as if the world were crumbling around her, her tearful heart filling the entire cabin with its sound.

What could Yeriel's state be at this moment? Her throat must be choked with tears, and her reason, completely gone, making it impossible for her to think straight. Was it a blessing if she didn’t pass out from all that?

Sophien thought, watching them.

— Yes, because I am your sister.

... However, Yeriel pulled herself together faster than Sophien had anticipated, biting her lip as she wiped her tears with her sleeve before burying her face in Deculein’s chest.

—

I am sorry for everything.

Of course, Yeriel is a spirited woman, with as much determination as Deculein, meaning she is a fitting head of the family,

Sophien thought.

—

Thank you so much, and...

Therefore, Yeriel did not want to waste Deculein’s final moment on something like sadness or be left with regrets at the end, and instead she suppressed her exploding emotions with all her might and conveyed her true feelings...

—

I love you.

... The words she had always wanted to say but had never been able to, at least now, in this moment.

—

I'm glad that you were my brother.

At that moment, Deculein’s eyes curved into a slight arc.

—

... Yes, Yeriel.

However, Deculein’s smile lasted only a moment, for his heart had already stopped and his body had already reached its limit, and he had merely been postponing his final moment while waiting for Yeriel to arrive.

—

Yes, brother.

As he accepted the death that had come for him a long time ago, Deculein slowly closed his eyes.

—

You can rest now.

And at last, Yeriel accepted Deculein's death.

#13. Present

“... I was unwilling to accept it.”

Returning to the present, Sophien wrinkled her face as she looked at Epherene.

“What was it that you were unwilling to accept?” Epherene asked, as if she had no idea what she was talking about.

"I was unwilling to accept his death," Sophien said.

“Would there really be a way if you refused to accept it?” Epherene replied, tilting her head.

Chirp— Chirp—

Somewhere, the sound of birds chirping echoed with a sense of peace.

The two were now having a conversation in this ordinary, secluded fishing spot—a place deep in the mountains where, due to its lack of human presence, nature was well preserved.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“You are a mage, are you not? It should be your specialty to create a way even when none exists.”

“Regression is not an option,” Epherene replied, raising her eyebrows. “Even if it were possible, I cannot disturb a timeline that has already been made.”

Epherene had a promise and a determination, and she was willing to sacrifice everything to meet Deculein.

However, this conviction was limited to herself, and she could not forcibly sacrifice others for her own purpose, and that was a principle that both Epherene and Deculein had held on to.

"

Hmph

, you have nothing to worry about. The sacrifice is one I will make."

Epherene, gripping her fishing rod, looked at Sophien.

“The Quantization of Time,” Sophien continued, staring out at the ocean.

“... Sorry?”

Quantization of Time was the theory that Deculein had passed on to Epherene in Lokralen five years ago, and it was a miracle achieved together by the mentor and protégé.

"That spell of yours, I am told you learned it in Lokralen."

Whirrrrrr—

The fishing rod shook, and a ripple appeared on the surface of the water that had taken the bait.

“And?”

"That will be sufficient to achieve it."

“Of what...?”

"I am certain you remember. It was not long after Deculein's death that a meteor fell in the Northern Region."

The meteor,

Epherene thought, her head nodding after a moment.

“That day when Your Majesty and I came to the future together..."

“Indeed.”

In the past, Sophien and Epherene had traveled to the future together, and there, Epherene had received a wand from Deculein—the last gift left to her by a Deculein whose life had already come to an end.

“The fragment of that meteor is with me,” Sophien continued.

Epherene’s eyes trembled like ice, and she looked at Sophien with a nervous expression.

“And.”

Snap—

Sophien snapped her fingers, and a presence appeared from somewhere, making Epherene turn with a look of bewilderment that soon turned into a smile.

"Hello, it has been a while."

The woman's voice was monotone, but as she smiled faintly at Epherene, it became clear that she was Sylvia, the only woman the Archmage Epherene called a friend.

"It's been a while, Archmage Epherene."

Next was the child who once treated Epherene as an archmage, now the greatest adventurer on the continent and no longer a child.

However, her feelings of warmth were fleeting, and with a rational expression Epherene asked, "Ria, Sylvia. What brings you both here?"

“Well?” Ria replied, a bright smile on her face and a strange confidence in her posture.

Epherene rose to her feet without a word as tranquil mana bloomed beside her, and though this unexpected encounter was as joyous as it was sudden, she was a major pillar of the continent’s magical realm, charged with safeguarding its laws and providence, and thus bore the duty to eliminate any possibility of a severe threat to the continent’s safety should it arise again.

“What brings you here?” Epherene asked in a low voice.

Even under the pressure of mana that would have suffocated an ordinary person, Ria was able to smile brightly.

"I thought you would like that we came to see you."

“... If you’re thinking about intervening with time—”

"It is a much better way than that," Ria interrupted.

Over the course of five years, Ria of the Red Garnet Adventure Team had earned the title of the continent's greatest adventurer and was now nearly the same height as Epherene.

“What if,” Ria continued, meeting Epherene’s eyes on an equal level, “the Professor didn’t really die... No, what would you do if we could make it so he didn’t die?”

With the most serious expression, she said something that had no logical consistency.

#14. Rohakan’s Cabin

... The phrase that nothing was impossible was often used by mages, because the world’s principles were not a simple dichotomy of possible and impossible, but rather lay in the possibilities between them, which meant that impossibility was merely the failure to bring a possibility to life, and possibility was merely the proof of one.

Therefore, a true mage would never disparage an idea, but would bless the journey of that possibility and willingly grind their soul into it, even if it seemed an impossibility.

“I feel the same way,” Sylvia said, pounding her chest in a proud declaration that she was a true mage of that kind.

Epherene, on the other hand, was silent, now thinking over the words Ria had explained to her in Rohakan’s cabin.

“It’s hard for me to understand what it means to deceive the world,” Epherene replied.

Ria’s proposal—that Deculein might not actually be dead—was tied to the phrase about deceiving the world.

"It's possible. It's not something that can't be done."

Epherene remained silent.

"Most importantly, this doesn't go against the natural order of things. We're not reviving the dead or thoughtlessly rewinding time to cause a regression," Sylvia continued.

Epherene also nodded in response to Sylvia’s words.

First and foremost, the content of this absurd plan was simple.

First, they would manifest a passage using the Quantization of Time to return to the past, to the timeline where the eternal winter had frozen the continent, if only for a brief time.

The first step of this process would require an enormous amount of effort, magic, a catalyst, a medium, and a sacrifice, but they would assume that it would succeed regardless.

The second step was to bring Deculein, who had been in hibernation for ten thousand years, out of the past, but they would have to do so without being detected, hiding him away somewhere.

"Is that spell of your own invention, Sylvia?" Epherene asked.

Hiding Deculein was Sylvia’s part of the plan, and she had already succeeded.

“I created it to be as similar as possible to the outer edge of the world," Sylvia replied with a composed expression.

Its motif was the outer edge of the world, and the tool that Sylvia proudly displayed took the form of a canvas.

“It is a canvas.”

“Yes.”

A space created by pouring in hundreds of millions of Elne and all of Marik’s mana stones to contain Deculein.

The nuance of the phrase to preserve Deculein inside... was a little strange, but in any case, if they preserved him, they would also be able to avoid the world's attention.

“... And what happens after that?”

"There are many paintings in the gallery of the lighthouse. I'll hang this in one of them and then come back..."

There was no need to mention the third and final step.

Because all that matters is to meet the Professor,

Epherene thought.

“... That is a ridiculous idea,” Epherene said, a dry laugh escaping her lips.

“That’s true,” Sylvia replied, nodding with a similar expression.

Even to the two mages—Epherene, an archmage, and Sylvia, who was practically an archmage—the plan was absurd...

"It's possible. I'm absolutely sure of it."

However, it was the adventurer, Ria, who was more certain than anyone else about Deculein's possibility of returning alive.

“I was with the Professor in his final moments,” Ria continued, leaning her chest on the back of the chair she had turned around. “I was with him... for his last moments.”

Ria had realized too late that Deculein was the end of Deculein and, at the same time, the end of Kim Woo-Jin, a man who had come to this world just like her.

“The Professor at that time...”

But he was different—his appearance, voice, and face all subtly changed from the Deculein he had been before his hibernation.

“Anyway.”

Of course, Deculein's death was a truth and an unchangeable fact.

"Therefore, we bring the Professor out of hibernation to spend time with us, and before he dies, we send him back to his original timeline," Ria concluded.

“No, that’s—”

The moment Epherene was about to point something out...

"The advancement of

Comprehension

will be put on hold until then. To deceive the world means to temporarily sever the link to whatever that is, be it authority or talent, while we deceive the world," Ria interrupted Epherene’s concern. "So, there's no need to worry about the Professor becoming intelligent."

"... You know about it, don't you?" Epherene replied with a slightly surprised expression.

"Yes, and please don’t expect the Professor will live for a very long time,” Ria replied with a small smile.

Deculein had already overextended himself too much, pushing his whole self—his soul and his body—to their limits and utterly breaking himself, and therefore, even by deceiving the world, it was unknown how much longer his remaining life would be extended, whether just one more year or perhaps thirty.

"Also, the Professor we saved has to go back to his own timeline someday and face his death. Just like it happened five years ago, here in this cabin."

However, that final step had to be carried out here, with Deculein returning to this cabin from five years ago to wait for his own death and for Yeriel.

"That is the only way to deceive the world and in order to save Miss Epherene from Lokralen."

The three hundred eighty-five years in Lokralen was a period that Epherene could not and should not have handled on her own, for from the very beginning it was something they overcame with Deculein, and no matter what happened to him afterward, he was bound to return to this timeline.

"Of course this interference will cause some small errors. But... you know that don't you?" Ria concluded, winking as she pointed at Epherene. "Things that are destined to happen, always happen."

#15. Contemplation

In the late night of the Northern Region, Epherene was studying in Rohakan’s cabin—the place she had inherited according to his will after Deculein’s death—absorbed in the miracle of opening a passage to the past.

“

... Sigh.

”

The difficulty was enough to make her sigh, and even though Epherene herself was an archmage who controlled time, the disparity between the past and the present was now far too great.

Fortunately, a fragment of the meteorite that would become the catalyst for the miracle was now brightly glinting on Epherene's desk... but even if things were to proceed as Ria’s optimism suggested, the problem was a great one.

If the passage of time were to be opened again, there was a chance that another disruption, or a tangle of time, would occur, and that problem would grow exponentially from the moment the passage opened until it closed.

If even the slightest miscalculation occurs and if by chance the magic fails, the destruction of the world that Professor Deculein barely prevented...

Epherene thought.

Tap—

A hand rested on the shoulder of Epherene, who was deep in contemplation.

“... It seems that you have something troubling you,” said Empress Sophien of the Empire.

“Yes, something is troubling me, but it is nothing to worry about,” Epherene replied to Sophien with a bitter smile.

Nevertheless, that concern was not a serious one, as Epherene already knew the countermeasures to take if such a situation were to occur.

“It doesn’t seem to be a problem to worry about... but do not worry, for I shall take responsibility for all of it.”

“...

Hehe

,” Epherene murmured, and then stretched, her expression a little brighter. “But, how have you been?”

"What do you mean?" Sophien replied, taking a seat in the chair across from her.

"I'm talking about a world without the Professor. It has already been a considerable amount of time, hasn't it? You mentioned it's been five years."

"... Indeed, it was five years," Sophien replied in a detached tone, as if she were a perpetually uninterested and bored Empress. “It seems the saying, ‘meaningless within the meaningful,’ is the most fitting.”

With her chin resting in her hand, Sophien was looking at Epherene, admiring the emotions spread across her face.

“The world is indeed a wondrous thing, though all its creations are meaningless to me...”

Suddenly, the Empress closed her eyes as if to bring someone’s face to mind, and a thin smile appeared at his vague image, a meaningless imagination that became meaningful merely through the act of imagining, as though drawing a picture in the empty air.

“But if this world did not exist, I would not have been able to meet him, whom I love the most.”

Sophien had already realized that Deculein was the one who could turn her meaninglessness into meaning, and also the one who could turn her meaning into meaninglessness.

"Therefore, as his lord, I will take it upon myself to save him."

Epherene remained silent.

“Fair and firm reward and punishment. To those who have achieved, a fitting reward. To those who have committed a crime, an absolute punishment.”

Sophien looked at Epherene's desk, on which papers detailing research on the grand magic to open the passage were neatly arranged.

"Therefore, I will bestow a reward upon Deculein, the one who saved this continent."

Holding a pencil, Sophien made corrections to certain parts of the equations that Epherene had been contemplating.

"It is ridiculous that the man who saved this world should be unable to survive in it himself," Sophien concluded.

"...

Oh?!

" Epherene murmured, her eyes wide with surprise as she read the corrected equations.

“For that, I would be willing to make any sacrifice, if the man I love can survive on this continent,” Sophien said with a smile on her lips as she looked at Epherene. “Go and make the preparations. I cannot wait long.”

At that moment, Epherene jumped to her feet, her heart thumping from Sophien’s recent corrections as her brain constricted for the first time in a long while.

“Your Majesty, the Empress!”

It was the insight of Sophien, who was more precise than an archmage and could see through the heart of magic and its fundamental principles.

“

Haha

, you are finally calling me Empress again,” Sophien concluded with a serpentine smile. “Now, let us go and get that arrogant Professor. It is time to finish this last knot...”