Chapter 60: An Unexpected Matter (7)
The moment I heard those words, I reflexively tried to fling my body backward, but I couldn’t.
The chair I had been sitting on had already changed shape, binding me tightly like shackles.
“Khk!?”
“Is it because you’re young? You’re brimming with energy.”
Talia, who watched me for a moment, lightly clicked her tongue before slowly moving her hand.
At her gesture, the bindings of the chair restraining me loosened, and it gradually returned to its original form.
“Have you calmed down now?”
Even though I had been glaring sharply at her, Talia appeared completely unfazed.
Rather, she even slightly nodded, as if to say she understood my reaction.
“Now that I think about it, I was too careless. You had every reason to react like that.”
Then she even bowed her head to me slightly.
“What I did just now was undeniably rude to you. Please forgive me generously.”
“…How did you know?”
Her composed reaction was enough to ease some of my wariness.
Thanks to that, I managed to regain some composure, and while maintaining my calm, I asked her. She blinked her eyes.
“Know what? That you’ve turned back time?”
“…Yes.”
As I slowly nodded, she replied as if it were nothing special.
“Because I fought against someone similar.”
“…You fought against someone?”
“Yes, Popolotuath of the Eight Demon Lords. He used an ability that interfered with time.”
Records related to the Eight Demon Lords could still be found quite easily even in modern times.
That was because research about them had been steadily conducted from the past to the present.
So, roughly speaking, their names, their abilities, how they were defeated, and the way they met their end—most students attending the Academy could recite those facts fluently.
And I was no exception.
That was why I couldn’t help but be shocked at her words.
There was not a single record—anywhere—that mentioned any of the Eight Demon Lords possessing an ability related to time.
“Wasn’t Popolotuath’s ability to endlessly breed, combine, and summon monsters within his body?”
“Ah, yes, he had that too.”
Talia shrugged her shoulders.
“But do you think just that kind of ability would have earned him the title of one of the Eight Demon Lords?”
Her voice carried a tone of reminiscence, almost wistful.
“Ha, back then it was really hopeless. No matter how desperately we racked our brains to come up with ways to kill him, he would immediately create monsters capable of countering those methods. We even thought he could see straight into our heads. Do you know what trick he actually used?”
“…No, I don’t.”
“Of course. No one could have imagined it.”
Talia let out a small, incredulous laugh.
“That bastard, whenever we killed him, he twisted the timeline and returned to the moment before his death, then created monsters that could counter the method we had used. He repeated that over and over again.”
“…What?”
“I’m saying, whenever we killed him, he came back with a countermeasure ready, returning to just before his death.”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard.
Repeating her words in my head, I voiced my pure, unfiltered question.
“…How in the world did you defeat such a monster?”
“Well? All of us just worked our hardest?”
Talia answered casually, gazing at me steadily.
Seeing me avert my eyes slightly, she let out a small, amused laugh, as though she found me commendable.
+10 points.
“Anyway, that’s why I noticed it about you. That distinct… hm, smell, maybe? That peculiar scent unique to beings who have turned back time. Thanks to that bastard Popolotuath, I smelled it to my heart’s content. So I just threw out a guess—but I didn’t expect you to react so violently.”
Maybe I should learn how to control my expressions better.
Before I could respond to her advice, she cut in first.
“I can tell what you’re going to ask, so you don’t need to say it out loud.”
Talia Poas let out a small chuckle.
“Why don’t we continue that little detective game from earlier?”
She took a slow breath and spread out her fingers.
“First, why are there no records about Popolotuath’s ability? Second, is the phenomenon of you turning back time related to the brand engraved on you? And third, is it really possible to turn back time? …Those are basically the three things you want to ask, right?”
“…Exactly.”
“Good. I’ll explain them one by one, so listen carefully.”
Watching me straighten my posture, she folded down one of her three outstretched fingers.
“First answer: the reason his ability wasn’t recorded was simply to prevent chaos. Popolotuath never revealed his ability to anyone and hid it tightly. At the time, the number of people across the entire continent who knew about his ability could probably be counted on one hand.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Because it was that powerful and dangerous.”
“Yes, exactly. Of course, he needed very strict and complicated conditions to use that ability, but the mere fact that the power to interfere with time actually existed would have been enough to ignite turmoil. If that truth had become widely known, it would have been obvious what would happen… The entire continent would have gone mad trying to obtain even fragments of his corpse.”
“Did Popolotuath also have a brand?”
At my question, she let out a small laugh and folded her second finger.
“Second answer: I can combine this with your earlier question. Popolotuath didn’t have a brand. Which means his ability was purely his own—whether he was born with it or refined it through practice, it was his unique, inherent power. In that sense, your brand cannot be said to possess the power to turn back time.”
She shrugged.
“Of course, I can’t say I’m well-versed in brands now, so just take that as a reference. After all, your brand is a form I’ve never seen before. Do you know what power your brand holds?”
“…To some extent.”
“Good. Then it seems we both share the opinion that the possibility of your brand being tied to time is extremely low.”
Finally, she folded her third finger.
“Third answer: the magic to turn back time itself does not exist.”
“……”
I kept silent, waiting for her next words.
She only gave me a sly little smile in response.
“To be precise, it’s impossible with human magic alone… That was my conclusion. So I searched everywhere, through all forms of sorcery and magic from countless races, miracles, rituals, spells… everything. The distant shamanism of Garusol, the bloodline powers of the demons, the miracles of priests, the prayers of spirits, the brands we just spoke of….”
Here, she let out a faint sigh.
“And still, I couldn’t find even a single lead. Maybe I approached it wrong, or maybe I just didn’t have the talent. Damn it… I sincerely want to know what became of my original self. One of the most frustrating things about being trapped here is that no matter what I do now, I can’t develop any further.”
“……”
Those words from Talia Poas weighed heavier than anything.
The reason she continued to be praised to this very day wasn’t only because she had been a hero who saved the continent.
More importantly, it was because she had revived the fading history of magic itself.
She had hunted down Faust of the Eight Demon Lords, who had been called a living library, and as spoils of war gained a vast number of magic tomes. In exchange for returning them to each race, she created copies, and based on those she reorganized the Magic Tower.
Following that, through the lineage of Talia Poas, the Sage Bojador Arpentia, and Archmage Edas, the withering thread of magic was revived and carried into the modern era.
If not for her, in our present age, magic would have become nothing more than a legend from old tales.
‘So for her to say something like that….’
It felt like chunks of hope were being shaved away.
At that moment, I suddenly felt her gaze and turned my head, only to see her staring silently into the distance.
Though her mouth was covered with her hand so I couldn’t see her expression, I could at least see the strange desire burning in her eyes.
“…Lady Talia Poas?”
She ignored my call and let out a deep, heavy sigh.
I had seen such a sight many times before.
It was the process great mages often went through, diving into a depth of thought that only they themselves could comprehend.
“…Even that Popolotuath had to satisfy more than five conditions—at least the ones I managed to uncover—just to interfere with the timeline. I’m sure there were even more that I didn’t know about. Strong magic always came with restrictions.”
Her voice drifted out in a hazy murmur.
“And every time he used his ability, serious defects occurred. Since the timeline rewound, it was impossible to tell what was lost, but we could clearly perceive that something was missing. If things had continued like that, eventually he would have consumed himself to death and we could have defeated him. But instead, we threw him into an endlessly repeating, massive whirlpool of cycles where even if he rewound the timeline, the result could no longer be reversed. That was how we destroyed him.”
“……”
Tap, tap. Her fingers knocked lightly against the chair.
I quietly adjusted my stance so I could leap away at any moment.
But the chair didn’t turn into shackles like before.
If anything, that made me even more tense.
“…There are a few things to be taken from this. First, even a being as mighty as one of the Eight Demon Lords had to pay the price of gnawing away at himself, suffering serious defects, and satisfying extremely strict conditions—yet even so, he could only interfere with very limited timelines. Second, despite all that, his power could be countered. In other words, it was a half-complete ability. And even so, he still managed to drive all of us to the brink of death.”
Then….
She murmured quietly.
“If meddling with such narrow timelines was like that, then what kind of conditions, processes, and costs would be required to return several years into the past? And if one could wield such a power freely, just how limitless could its applications be?”
Slowly.
Her unfocused eyes that had been wandering in the air finally turned toward me.
The moment our eyes met.
“…Ah.”
In that instant.
The strange desire that had filled her gaze vanished without a trace.
“Mm… So it doesn’t work after all.”
Letting out a sigh filled with exhaustion, she leaned her head far back and muttered.
As I sat unable to react to the sudden shift, she lifted her hand apologetically.
“I told you before. I’m fixed from the point I was severed—I can neither think nor advance. …If we had met outside, I would have done whatever it took to drag you into my workshop, but here, even with someone like you in front of me, nothing changes.”
Muttering like that, she suddenly brightened as if struck by an idea and rose, her eyes sparkling.
“Ah, maybe I should just cling to you like a bound spirit? I’ve never tried it before, but maybe that would let me escape this place.”
“……”
Maybe it was because I had just seen those madness-tinged eyes, but I couldn’t take her words as a simple joke.
Seeing my reaction, Talia let out a short laugh.
“If you get that scared over a joke, I’ll be the one embarrassed. I may look like this, but I’m still a hero. Do you really think I’d do something like that to a distant junior?”
“Haha….”
Watching me give a wry smile, she muttered softly.
“Besides, even if I tried to line up now, it would be far too late.”
“…Sorry? What do you mean by that?”
“Just the usual nonsense a wizard spouts. Pay it no mind.”
She waved it off like it was nothing and glanced at the place where the candle flame flickered.
It had nearly burned itself out.
“It’s about time.”
She muttered regretfully and looked at me.
“I’ll answer the rest of your questions next time. I’m sure you’ll manage to earn at least one more chance.”
Even as she said it, she smacked her lips lightly as if she herself was dissatisfied.
“And even if you return, I’ll still remember this conversation, so don’t worry about that. Mm… maybe because time is short, it feels like we didn’t get to talk properly. Like it all just passed in a rush.”
“…To me, it was an immensely valuable time.”
“Thank you for saying that. Still, since I cost you some time, I’ll make sure to repay it the next time you come.”
After finishing her words, she snorted through her nose, then suddenly gestured for me to come closer.
I hesitated for a moment but soon stood and stepped up right before her.
“Lower your head. Your neck’s going to snap.”
“Ah, yes.”
As I bent down, I naturally came face to face with her up close.
A face that didn’t look much older than mine.
If anything, she looked younger.
Despite having demon blood in her veins, she had despised the demons more than anyone else. Slowly, she extended her finger to my forehead.
“As I thought.”
A moment later, she said that and gave a small nod.
Then she withdrew her hand and let out a long, deep sigh.
“…What is it, my lady?”
“Just… because it makes me pity you.”
At my question, Talia frowned slightly as she answered.
It wasn’t anger or irritation on her face, but worry and concern.
“On your head.”
She pointed her finger toward my head.
Then, tapping her own head lightly with that finger, she said:
“Someone’s played a trick on you.”