Emma’s arms were soon filled with dozens of potions. It seemed she wanted to give all of them to me.
It was troubling. First of all, it was cumbersome to carry, but Emma was a commoner.
Those potions must also have been one of her precious sources of income. I couldn’t accept them carelessly.
So I decided to quietly try to persuade Emma first.
“Emma, no matter the reason… isn’t it too much?”
“Hmm? But the more prepared we are, the better, right?”
Emma tilted her head and asked me. It was indeed a reasonable argument.
But I had something to say as well.
“I can’t take this many. It would be hard to carry them all during battles, and more importantly, you earn your living by selling those potions.”
“……It’s okay.”
Emma carefully placed the potions she was holding on the desk.
Despite the desk being quite large, it was difficult to manage the avalanche of potion bottles that spilled onto it. A few potions rolled off, about to fall under the desk. My hands hurriedly grabbed several of the potions.
Emma, who had also reached for the falling potions, gave me a sly smile in appreciation for my swift actions.
Her hand rested over her heart. And soon, with a proud expression, the maiden spoke.
“If you get hungry, you can eat mushrooms! There are several mushroom colonies in the Southern Forest…”
“No way.”
I firmly cut off her words. Perhaps because of how decisive my tone was, Emma looked at me with a startled expression. Nevertheless, my stance would not change.
My head shook emphatically. My eyes sank heavily. It was a sign of my sincerity.
“Absolutely not. Are you out of your mind? Don’t you remember what happened with the monsters there?”
“B-but that was due to the anomaly…”
“Still, it’s not allowed.”
After my repeated rejections, Emma looked a bit disheartened. She was normally wise and smart, but it seemed that right now, rational judgment was impossible for her.
Perhaps it was because her mind was filled with the single thought of wanting to help me. Though I appreciated her good intentions, I had no choice but to reject her kindness.
It was too much to sacrifice her meals just because she wanted to help me.
Besides, doing so wouldn’t improve my feelings. If I felt uneasy every time I used a potion, it certainly wouldn’t help.
I didn’t want to take away Emma’s meals. I wasn’t the kind of person who would sacrifice a friend’s life for my own safety.
Emma was my first commoner friend. Wasn’t it I who resurrected her from the brink of death?
Although the cost reached tens of thousands of gold during that process, even now, I did not regret that decision.
Because it saved the lives of two people.
Emma and her father.
The happy future of the herb-collecting father and daughter had just begun. But now Emma was trying to push that saved life back to the bottom.
All to help me; a sigh escaped my lips involuntarily.
“Emma, you promised me. To be happy.”
“W-well, I feel happier when I can help Ian…”
It was a sulky voice. Those light green eyes glancing at me anxiously would soften any man’s heart.
I opened my mouth, feeling a bit more lenient. Now, it was closer to a soothing tone.
“Emma, think about it. If you’re eating mushrooms as a substitute for meals, will I feel good about that?”
“……Mushrooms have been my staple since I was a child?”
Ah, that was a statement lacking sensitivity toward a commoner’s lifestyle.
If I were a lord, hearing that blunder would have shown a downward trend in the feelings of the territory’s residents. I broke into a cold sweat inwardly and hurried to rectify it.
“It’s not that mushrooms are bad. I just wish you wouldn’t have to take risks to go into the forest. To me, your life is precious.”
The effect of my serious tone must have worked, as Emma’s face flushed.
The light green eyes that had been staring vacantly at me soon returned to focus. Emma chuckled shyly and averted her gaze. Fortunately, she didn’t seem offended.
In fact, she looked a bit happy. Though she couldn’t meet my eyes, she nodded in agreement.
“R-right… if it’s precious, I can’t do anything about it…”
That was a slightly different side of Emma from what I had seen. She had always prided herself on her calm and keen intellect, yet now she seemed somewhat silly.
I wondered if it was a side effect of what happened with the monsters, but I had no way of knowing that right now. I merely tilted my head and shelved that suspicion in a corner of my mind. Seizing the opportunity, I dove straight into the main topic.
“And even if it’s not potions, there are many ways you can help me.”
“……Huh? Like what?”
“Your knowledge.”
I lowered my voice and asked Emma, who tilted her head in curiosity.
“Do you remember the last time we talked? About whether letters might come from the future?”
Emma paused for a moment, tapping her lips as she pondered. Then soon, as if she realized, she exclaimed, “Ah!”
Before long, a glint returned to her light green eyes. Then her mouth opened.
“Back then, I think we talked about Delphrium and the Seven Stars, right?”
“Exactly. Can you tell me more about that? And also, can souls return to the past, not just letters?”
“Hmm…” Emma slightly narrowed her brows. She then stood up and turned toward a corner of the workshop. Sending a signal with her magic, blue lines began to draw in the air.
It was an astronomical chart. A must-have for mages and alchemists, recording all the stars in the sky.
“As I mentioned before, it’s not impossible. Information has no physical existence, so its resistance is relatively low. If it takes the form of a letter, it’s just a piece of paper moving, so the burden is light. But souls are different.”
With that, Emma waved her hand. The center of the astronomical chart magnified, and seven shining stars filled her view.
They were the stars that symbolized the seven sins committed by Delphrium.
Those seven sins were also the first crimes in human history. Thus, the stars representing this sin were said to be watched closely from the place closest to Arus’s eye.
When the moon rises high, the seven stars are positioned around it, making it an inevitable result as they sit at the center of the night sky.
And the time when the moon is positioned in the center of those seven stars is also when the Evil God Omelos’s power is strongest.
That was also the reason why we couldn’t borrow the terrifying power of those seven stars. Since Arus would not allow it, no one could covet the power of the stars.
Not humans, not monsters, and not even the Evil Gods.
If there is a being capable of that, it would only be one: the rightful owner of those seven stars.
Delphrium, the Betrayer of Humanity.
I unintentionally muttered that name, which I had heard repeatedly in my dreams.
“No matter how much it is said that information incurs less resistance when crossing timelines, if the quantity becomes vast, it will inevitably place a significant burden on the world. Naturally, the magical power needed to correct it will become enormous as well, and if it’s a thought entity containing countless information like a soul, it goes without saying.”
“So souls can’t return to the past?”
In response to my question, Emma shook her head. She continued in a voice deep in thought.
“No, it just means there are limitations. It’s not just a matter of relaying information and ending there like a letter. For instance, it could only appear at a specific time…”
As she kept adding explanations, Emma soon shook her head as if realizing it was a meaningless premise. A bitter smile formed at her lips.
“But that would only be possible if we could borrow the power of the seven stars. Until that condition is met, whether it’s letters or souls, it’s impossible for them to cross to the past.”
“……Is there absolutely no way?”
“There’s none, only except for two.”
In other words, it seemed there was some possibility. As I saw a glimmer of hope on my face, Emma advised me without wiping the bitter smile from hers.
“Don’t get your hopes too high, Ian. They’re truly outrageous possibilities.”
“What kind of possibilities are we talking about…?”
“The destruction of humanity.”
My mouth immediately shut. As if she had anticipated it, Emma shook her head vigorously.
“Or the elimination of Delphrium; one of those two must be fulfilled. The former would cause Arus to lose power, and the latter would eliminate the need to hold onto the power of the seven stars.”
In either case, it seemed Emma viewed it as unlikely. It was understandable.
It was unimaginable in the present age for a mythical being to vanish or for humanity to be on the brink of annihilation.
However, upon hearing those words, one line from a note flashed in my mind.
“If we cannot protect the future, the world will perish.”
The scrawled writing left behind on the backside of the first letter.
Silently pondering the chilling future that it hinted at, I remained deep in thought as I prepared to leave the workshop. Just as I was about to step out with a few potions Emma had offered, she suddenly asked as if she had just remembered.
“Ian, how about it? Do you see anything different about me?”
It was a puzzling question. My head was already complicated enough, and I struggled for a long time without knowing the answer.
Seeing my dilemma, Emma couldn’t help but chuckle lightly. With a playful smile, she spoke to me.
“Actually, I used a perfume called ‘Love Potion.’ It has a bit of an effect to make me more attractive to the opposite sex, you know… or at least that’s what I thought…”
Before she could finish that sentence, I brought my nose close to the nape of her neck.
As I smelled it, there was indeed a peculiar fragrance. It was sweet but also tantalizing.
I couldn’t help but nod. It lived up to the name ‘Love Potion.’ As I slowly distanced myself from Emma, she seemed frozen, holding her breath.
The flush on her face was the only testament to her alive state. I shrugged my shoulders and complimented her.
“It really seems effective; it smells nice.”
“……Y-yeah, it’s nice.”
Emma stammered that out and then turned her gaze away from me. She began fanning herself, trying to cool her heated face.
With a quick glance, her light green eyes drifted from me. All she left behind, soaked in embarrassment, was one last remark.
“Yes, it’s effective… so… for me…”
And with that, I exited Emma’s workshop. There were still people I needed to meet.
It was Senior Elsi.
Surprisingly, I could find Senior Elsi quickly. As usual, she was surrounded by a group of her followers, and as soon as I inquired about her whereabouts, countless eyewitness accounts flooded in.
As expected, Senior Elsi was occupying a quiet clearing. With a proud expression, she was regaling her followers with her tales of bravado.
“Do you know what kind of expression that Delphine brat had back then? She was lying there with a face as if the world was collapsing—such a foolish girl! I should have turned her into minced meat…”
One of her followers chuckled at Elsi’s words. He soon spoke to her.
“Come on, that’s going a bit too far, minced meat?”
“……That’s true. Anyway, that damn girl!”
Hearing her words, I could only let out a sigh.
No matter how many times I heard it, her words contrasted starkly with her doll-like appearance. It was surprising to see a lady from the Rainelle Clan using such coarse language.
I almost wanted to pull out the hand axe at my waist and gauge her reaction, but I held back. Today, I was the one here to make a request.
Instead, I raised my hand in a casual greeting.
“Senior Elsi!”
“Please spare me from shrieking in despair… Huh? What’s this!”
As Elsi was in the middle of her story, she immediately jumped to her feet upon hearing my voice. She hopped over to me with excitement.
Her reaction was beyond my imagination, showing how pleased she was to see me. With a big smile, she asked,
“Y-you…! What brings you here? You haven’t visited in a while?”
“I missed you, Senior Elsi.”
Though it was just a polite phrase, it seemed enough to satisfy her greatly. With a haughty expression, she crossed her arms.
“Fufufu, really? For a cocky junior, you’re speaking some decent words after a long while. As a reward, I bestow upon you the right to pat my head.”
She threw me a mildly expectant glance, which I found a bit cute. She seemed a bit too proud, and I thought about teasing her a little, but her appearance was too charming to resist.
When I patted Senior Elsi’s head, she scratched an itch like a cat would, showing a delightful expression.
Seizing the moment, I decided to get to the point. My mouth carefully opened.
“Senior Elsi, do you have the next practice schedule set?”
“……Huh? No, I’m still pondering about that.”
“Then would you like to come with me?”
“Hmm…” A soft humming sound escaped from Elsi. As she was still being patted, her expression turned dreamy.
“Hmm, why would I go with a weakling like you… Eek! Fine, I’ll go! Is that okay?”
Eventually, I could no longer hold back, so I subtly moved my hand to the axe at my waist. That simple action ended Elsi’s resistance to my persuasion.
Why had I even tried to say it with words when it was this easy?
Chastising my foolishness inwardly, I placed my hand back atop Elsi’s head.
Elsi, who was trembling with the brim of her hat pulled down, finally looked a little more stable.
“I really need your skills. As you know, it’s really hard to find a mage as outstanding as you, Senior Elsi…”
“……W-well, that’s true! I am a somewhat amazing mage!”
Perhaps having realized she had no right to decline, Senior Elsi desperately searched for reasons to accompany me. It was her own way of saving face.
She probably didn’t want to have it known that she was intimidated into following me.
Also, my compliment seemed to have an effect. Senior Elsi appeared quite pleased with my praise. She regained her proud expression and said,
“After all, you’ve got no one else but me, right? A trustworthy fourth-year senior to follow!”
At that statement, I fell into a moment of silence.
A trustworthy senior? It was a rather curious statement in many ways, but I had no intention of pointing it out. However, it was necessary to inform her about the group composition.
After all, Delphine and Elsi had a notoriously antagonistic relationship, so I hesitated before finally speaking up.
“Actually, there’s one more person who’s going with us.”
“Fuh, of course it’s only me… Huh? There’s someone else?”
As Elsi tilted her head in confusion, her genuine curiosity shone through her expression. It was as if she were thinking how someone like me could know another fourth-year.
It was an endearing yet irritating face. So, perhaps slightly annoyed, I blurted out.
“Yes, Delphine has decided to join us.”
Upon hearing that, Senior Elsi, even while being patted, immediately went stiff.
Her round eyes testified to her shock. There was even a clear sign of betrayal in that look.
If she had wanted to ask “why?”, it was already too late; Elsi was already shaking with indignation. The spark of fury was evident in her sapphire-blue eyes.
It had marked the start of a rivalry that would last throughout the practice.
