Ch#220
* * *
Dark dawn.
The first floor of the base where Tie and all the members were asleep.
Reddish breaths emanated from the remaining embers in the fireplace.
At that moment, the closed first-floor window swung wide open.
Following, something black and swift flew inside.
Taking the form of a small black dragon, it naturally shifted into the shape of a young boy.
No sooner had Lucarion's feet touched the floor than a voice came from the opposite armchair shrouded in darkness.
"You look busy."
Lucarion startled and lifted his gaze.
Whether he had risen early or hadn't slept at all the previous night.
Tese tan sat quietly in the chair.
Lucarion closed his mouth before replying.
"......I didn't sense your presence."
"Is that so? I wasn't trying to hide that much."
Lucarion let out a short hollow laugh.
Tese tan's response was impressive yet chilling in a way.
Lucarion could generally detect everyone's presence.
Including Tese tan's.
However, over the past few weeks.
Tese tan had perfectly controlled his physical signs like heartbeat and breathing.
He had even minimized his mana and Holy Power fluctuations, making it impossible for even Lucarion to notice his existence.
"Is it possible?"
"It was possible for me."
"......How?"
"If I say I did it because I had to, is that an answer?"
Silence descended.
A quiet, tense atmosphere flowed in the stillness.
Since returning from Jongno-gu, Tese tan had been constantly busy.
He had first reduced his sleep time.
Next, he doubled his training hours and even practiced new sword strikes he hadn't attempted before.
All to prepare as much as possible for any potential events on the Central Continent.
"How's the search for your identity going?"
Tese tan asked.
As the stealth lifted, a faint smell of blood emanated from him somehow.
Lucarion wrinkled his nose bridge briefly before replying.
"......No significant findings so far."
"You're quite honest."
Not responding, Lucarion headed toward the fireplace.
Extending his hand over the logs, flames soon roared back to life in the hearth.
Lucarion added a few more logs while speaking.
"Memories still haven't returned. Nothing comes to mind about wiping out Trebaga either."
"I see."
"Still, I found a clue about the reason today."
As Tese tan furrowed his brow, Lucarion spread a magic circle around them.
Light began forming dozens of pages from ancient tomes at its center.
"Time magic is literally a spell that recreates an entire world. No different from splitting one world into two."
"Indeed."
"That's why those involved in the magic, including the caster, seem to pay a harsh price."
With a flick of his hand, one page from the many tomes enlarged.
"Disappearance."
"Disappearance?"
"Yes. But I didn't disappear. I lost something else instead."
Tese tan stroked his chin.
"You avoided disappearance but lost everything in your head. As the price for casting time magic."
"That seems the most plausible explanation for now."
Lucarion sat on the sofa.
The two stared silently at the side tables before them for a while.
Tese tan pondered Lucarion's words, lost in thought.
'The eyes I saw in Jongno-gu.'
Room 203.
The vines covering the walls and the golden pupils floating in the air were vivid.
The things those pupils showed that night were his life itself.
As Lucarion said, everything his other self from the split world had experienced.
All shocking, but the most vivid was undoubtedly the final scene.
The moment Trebaga's members all perished on the Eldrin Plains.
Tese tan stared at Lucarion's profile.
Whatever he was thinking, his red eyes pierced through the blazing logs.
In the shared memories.
The black dragon's eyes, covered in blood, had been that color too.
'If that black dragon is Lucarion.'
A few mysteries would be solved.
The black dragon attacking Tie changed attitude at the last moment.
Gazing at the child in disbelief, it shifted to human form and bowed its head to Tie.
Calling the child 'my lord.'
"......Complicated."
Tese tan rubbed his forehead.
Even so, his conclusion remained unchanged.
"I plan to investigate the World Tree when we go to the Central Continent."
Lucarion jerked his head up.
"The World Tree?"
"Yes. From what I've seen......"
Tese tan shook his head mid-sentence.
"I'll explain once it's sorted out. More importantly."
He unconsciously clenched and unclenched his fist.
"Since time magic came up...... about Astie."
At Astie's name, Lucarion's pupils dilated.
"If I decide not to have another child in this world."
Tese tan continued.
"......Then Astie won't disappear?"
His gaze had sunk deeply before he knew it.
"If no other Astie is born in this world. Then the current Astie won't vanish."
Lucarion fell silent.
Only after a long while did he reply.
"No, the opposite."
"Opposite?"
"Even if you don't have a child, Astie will disappear. Fate is fixed. An unborn being can't exist."
A short breath escaped Tese tan's lips.
His gaze stared at Lucarion in disbelief.
"......That doesn't make sense. Even if you and that person decide to have a child again at the set time, set point. How can you guarantee it'll be Astie?"
Lucarion's expression darkened.
"That's."
Lucarion too had roamed the continent night after night seeking that answer.
Undamaged tomes, records, murals—none existed.
But the answer he finally found was sadly hopeless.
"That's not for you to guarantee. The world guarantees it."
"What?"
"This world exists on a timeline where Astie must be born. Here, this world's Astie must exist."
"......"
"According to theory, that's when the world's intervention occurs."
Lucarion met Tese tan's eyes with pain-filled ones.
"Even without your efforts, Astie will be born. It's already designed that way."
"......"
"The world will intervene through magical coincidence or inescapable inevitability. To recreate the 'Astie who already existed in the future.'"
A short breath leaked from Tese tan's lips.
"What does that......"
It was incomprehensible from start to finish.
His child, yet beyond his control.
Just live as fate flows, and Astie will inevitably be born,
and his daughter sleeping upstairs now will vanish.
"That doesn't make sense......!"
Yet contrary to his words, his hands trembled.
Seven years later was still distant future.
Even so, intense fear filled his mind.
At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Tese tan, who had stiffened entirely, lifted his head.
Staring alternately at Lucarion's eyes, he slowly parted his lips.
"You."
He continued.
"At the Clock Tower...... you said you couldn't live without Tie."
Lucarion's pupils widened.
Clock Tower.
The moment Tie and Tese tan were sucked to Jongno-gu, and Libia pointed her sword at him.
'Are you our enemy?'
To the princess's question, he had answered.
'I cannot live without Astie.'
Tese tan exhaled shortly.
Gazing steadily at Lucarion, he continued.
"Be honest. A nonhuman whose identity is uncertain circling my daughter like a puppy. It doesn't sit entirely well with me. But."
"......"
"At least I know your words aren't lies."
The gaze Tese tan had seen on Lucarion was always toward Tie.
As if Tie were the center of the universe.
That's why he could propose it.
No, only Lucarion could receive such a proposal.
"Make a promise with me. No, a vow."
Lucarion furrowed his brow.
"If in seven years. If we haven't found a solution by then and Tie is in danger of vanishing......"
Tese tan uttered the next words.
Lucarion's eyes widened.