/
After Rhyn suggested that I not go any further, I went back to Fran.
She said it should be fine for now as Zelyse was still playing around right now, but it also depended on his mood, which is the least stable thing in the world.
We should talk to Sierra and ask for Weena Rhyn’s help as soon as possible
「So, you want me to talk to Sierra?」
『Yeah. In all likelihood, Sierra seems to knows something』
If it hadn’t been for that Pseudo Fanatic Sword earlier, we would have been able to get something out of him.
「A little more」
『It looks like we’re getting closer』
We had traveled quite a distance, but we were making our way towards each other. At this rate, we should be able to meet up soon.
「Urushi, dash!」
「Woof!」
We were able to meet up with Sierra soon after. However, he seemed to be exhausted.
「Haah, haah… That, sword…?」
「It got away」
「I see…」
It must have been hard for Sierra to keep running on the water. Both his magic and physical strength seemed to be exhausted. But since he thought that sword must have something to do with Zelyse, he must have pushed himself to run.
I didn’t think he would fall over any time soon, but he needed a break.
We decided to move to an island that we could see in the distance. The island was a rocky chunk about ten meters in diameter.
When he landed on it, Sierra felt weak and sat down involuntarily. Apparently, after weighing his fatigue against his pride, he had become relaxed enough to even show his ugly side in front of Fran.
We waited for a few minutes, and when Sierra had caught his breath enough, Fran opened her mouth.
「Tell me everything you know」
「…」
We didn’t know where to start asking questions, so we decided to just let him tell us everything. I wanted to know who Sierra was, what he knew about Zelyse, and all sorts of things he knows.
After a few seconds of silence, Sierra suddenly opened his mouth.
「Do you think it’s possible to cross through time?」
「Time?」
「Yeah」
「…Hmm?」
Fran pondered for a moment and tilted her head. I guess she didn’t quite understand the meaning of his words.
「You in the present, under the influence of some force, suddenly travels to the past. Do you think that’s possible?」
「That’s impossible」
「You think so?」
「Not unless you have a God’s power or something」
「Yeah. But it was surprisingly possible. There are already three people who have experienced it after all」
I see! So that was what was going on!
Fran tilted her head, but after hearing Sierra’s words, I understood what was going on to a certain extent.
When I thought of it as a time travel from the future to the past, then it made sense that there would be two Romio!
I briefly explained it to Fran.
「So you’re Romio who’s traveled through time?」
「Yes. I’m the present little Romio who get back eight years into the past and had grown older」
It seemed that it was not the adult Romio who crossed time but was the present Romio who got back as a young boy and grew up.
So, this must have been the meaning of the “before” that Rhyn mentioned to me. I explained this to Fran, but it was just simply unbelievable. It was just like a time slip, wasn’t it?
「I see」
「You believe me?」
But Fran didn’t seem to be surprised.
「You have the same eyes」
「Eyes?」
Now that she mentioned it, she said something like that before. She said that when Romio and Sierra glared at her, their eyes looked the same.
Sierra himself was not quite convinced. Well, it was because she said he had the same eyes after all. He then groaned and stroked his own eyes.
However, he decided to accept it, for the time being, thinking that it was okay since she believed him.
「Well, it doesn’t matter as long as you believed me」
「Then what happened?」
「…It has already been 8 years ago for me, but you guys of now… have become a lot different from the people I had known, so the same thing that happened before might not happen anymore」
Sierra slowly told her what had happened to him before as if he was recalling it himself.
It happened eight years ago for them.
It seemed that Romio and Zelos Reed had escaped to this country at that time as well. However, the timeline had changed drastically between the current Romio and Zelos Reed and the one from the past.
This Romio from the past said that they were captured by Zelyse in this country before. I never thought that someone as strong as Zelos Reed could get caught.
「It was because he took me hostage…」
As a result, Zelos Reed was at the mercy of Zelyse and had become the subjects of various kinds of human experimentation.
「Experiments on human?」
「He was implanted with a magic stone, a Pseudo Fanatic Sword, and given a wide variety of drugs. I was so young at that time that all I could do was watch my uncle’s physical form change」
Uncle, huh… It seemed that the relationship between Romio and Zelos Reed was good even in another timeline. So, he got caught and became an experiment subject, huh… But the Romio that was under the protection of the academy never said anything like that, didn’t he?
「Not like the Romio over here?」
「It was because we were the ones who led them into their current situation」
In their timeline, they ran away from the adventurers from the Belios Kingdom and Weena Rhyn but ended up being captured by Zelyse. But in this timeline, Sierra dared to leak the information about Romio and Zelos Reed’s whereabouts to the Adventurer’s Guild that led them to their current situation.
「We knew that Weena Rhyn wouldn’t simply kill us before. If that was the case, it was far better than being played around by Zelyse」
「I see」
Romio and Zelos Reed from another timeline then continued to be used by Zelyse for good. But it seemed that it was Romio alone that was protected by Weena Rhyn.
Zelyse, who was investigating the seal of the great magic beast, was detected by Weena Rhyn and his hideout was raided.
「That’s when I learned about my bloodline and the power that lies in it. I also learned that I was bound with my uncle without his knowledge…」
However, a few days after Romeo was taken into care by Weena Rhyn, things suddenly changed. Zelyse appeared at the site of the seal, aiming to resurrect the great magic beast.
It was Weena Rhyn and her hired help, Fran, who worked to stop him.
Fran, who had been targeting Zelos Reed as her revenge, attacked him without listening to the warnings of those around her when she saw him. In the aftermath of that fierce battle, the Commercial Fleet was said to have been destroyed.
That was the same as what Rhyn had said to me before. I guess I had turned into a mere sword and there was no one to stop Fran. No, there was someone who could have stopped her.
「Weena Rhyn didn’t stop me?」
「Even if it means she’d abandon the commercial fleet, she made a priority to keep my uncle out of her reach」
It seemed that while Fran was holding back Zelos Reed, Weena Rhyn tried to reseal the great magic beast, which had begun to resurrect. At the cost of Romio’s life.
「Magnolia’s power can be used to absorb the power of an evil person. Normally, it would go straight to the user’s power, but Weena Rhyn decided to use it in a special way」
The power of the Sacrament of the Evil God was hidden in the blood of the Magnolia family. With this power, she absorbed the power of the Evil God’s shards that were captured in the great magic beast and used the absorbed power to use a large-scale sealing technique.
In other words, it is a way to weaken the great magic beast and use its power to seal itself.
「I wouldn’t have a problem if it was a matter of absorbing the evil power within something of a goblin size. But that time, the opponent was really bad. If she continued to absorb power from the Evil God’s shards and then let them act as a channel for the sealing technique, the young Romio would not have been able to withstand it and would have died」
However, Weena Rhyn still didn’t want to stop the process. No matter what the cost, she was going to seal the great magic beast.
「I can only understand her reason now too. So, I won’t blame her」
Even though he had been sacrificed, Sierra’s voice showed no sign of resentment. He seemed to have accepted that it was inevitable.
But there was someone who couldn’t accept Romio’s death. That was Zelos Reed. He tried to save Romio somehow, but when he showed an opening, he was cut down by Fran.
「To be honest, I don’t remember what happened after that either. As soon as I decided to save my uncle somehow, my powers went out of control, and―――」
He found himself lying alone in the woods.
After saying that much, Sierra then pulled out the sword at his waist.
「There was no one else there. Just this sword that had fallen beside me」