#8) Random Mushoku Tensei plot bunny attack~!
Rudeus knew somewhere in his heart, even if everything was calculated out to fit in perfectly, that he would fail. The time hopping spell he's made from the Dragon God's notes is not fool's proof and he's built up enough bad karma to easily throw himself to the end of time before making it to where he should go.
Still, within this forsaken life that he lives in, he wants to put his hope into something. This time leap spell was that something. Of course, should this spell fail him, something he's assured of will be happening, and kill him along the way, he has his own consistency plan.
The first and his most hopeful one, his diary. The notes that he's recorded of his miserable and worthless life. If his past self reads these notes, he would definitely understand the desperateness of the situation and safe Roxy. Because Rudeus knows that he is someone who wouldn't chance the risk of his family, these ominous notes will surely make his past self take actions.
The second, one that is least likely to be used correctly, is a scroll that he's put many month's worth of effort into. A scroll that activates this world's first and only God Class Healing spell. Taken from the God Class Detoxification spell that Cliff gave his life to get for Rudeus, the God Class Healing Spell is a step up even from that. The cure of all disease but death elixir. The thing that he's created too little of too late. The thing that couldn't save anyone he cherished. For this very reason, it's the one he held the least hope on.
The third is a simple message he's engraved on his left arm. Should the first two not make it to the past but he himself does, his past self will inevitably see this message. The message is a pseudo-curse he's designed for that specific reason, to make- to compel- himself to read it. The message being a single line of his simplified God Class Detoxification Spell, one that will be able to cure the Magic Stone Disease, and a note to never trust Hitogami. If his past self ever find his current self's corpse, the message will pass along.
Rudeus looks at the three things he's prepared for his past self should his current self fail to time skip properly. Nodding in wary satisfaction, he puts the journal into the folds of his tattered robes and slides the scroll into the pocket slot of his pants. He stands up and grab the staff sitting next to him, the remodeled Aqua Heartia made to work well with his magic armor.
He walks up to the circle that he's prepared days before and double checks his work for the twentieth time. It was perfectly drawn to the best of his capabilities. This was as good as it can be for something that's his work. Had he more time and support, this would be far better than the circle he's staring at now. He doesn't though, and this is all that he's got.
He scowls at it. This is all that his research has led to; a bastardized magic circle that barely counts as a receptor to magic. Cliff would have made one with better functioning. Zanoba would drawn it better. Sylphy and Roxy would've made the cirlce more operational. Hell, Eris probably wouldn't have needed to make this to begin with. This was all he could do. It wasn't perfect. It didn't need to be though, it just needed to work.
Rudeus step into the middle of the circle and look at his surroundings one last time, taking in the image of it into his mind, should it be the last thing he sees. He engraved the environment into his mind, the setting of the basement of his abandoned home. The one that he's bought and lived in with Sylphy and Roxy. The house that held so much of his happiest memories.
He closes his eyes and breathes deeply. He opens them again and touch his journal for a different purpose while channeling the magic within his core. The magic circle reacts to the action and savagely rips the magic from him as well as the environment; making it so that it can fuel itself for the purpose he made it for.
He feels the magic rips itself from his body and transfer into the circle. He allowed it to go. He pushes it to go. He pours himself into the circle until he feels the fatigue of mana exhaustion drying his store and continues even after that point. It was working, he can feel it. The space distorts before his vision, showing a cross image of his house's basement and the back of a young man; his younger self.
His younger self was walking towards the door, away from him.
He continues to allow the magic circle to pull from him to function. The distortion becomes bigger, the back becomes clearer. Aqua Heartia breaks within his grip and disappears from his hand. His stomach churns as he unreservedly glare at the back.
His past self pauses and turn around with a questioning look in his mismatched eyes. Rudeus lets out a strained breath. Yes, that naive face, those innocent looking eyes, that youthful expression that should've disappeared long ago, it was the face of himself, the face of the younger Rudeus Greyrat.
His younger self frowns noticeably and shrugs before turning back to the door. As he open that door, Rudeus panics. He pushes at the boundary of the magic circle, pushing everything he had, not caring for what it was that he was giving to the circle. His body screams for a moment, fire burns in the pits of his stomach, pain laced his being and he nearly screams aloud.
Then it suddenly stops. The blurring stops, the pain stops, everything stops. Rudeus stares at the back of his pass self. He stares at the previously blurry back, now as clear as his vision allowed for. He sees every detail; every piece of hair, every fold of clothes, every shadow pronounced by the fading sunlight.
"There!... Eh?""
He watches his past self energetically turns around again. There was a look of self-derision on the younger man's face, as if he was telling himself something on the line of, "there's no way." The look of self doubt quickly turns into a look of surprise when his future self enter his vision. Rudeus didn't feel any fluctuation in the air so he had doubted that he succeeded at all. Seeing his past self's face, a gobsmacked face filled with bewilderment, answered the silent question he gave himself.
"I... succeeded?..."
Rudeus pull his eyes off of his past self to look at the where they are. He recognize the room with some effort from his mental department. He's in the room that's been usurped for his use only, his so called office. Looking at the mundane room, Rudeus is filled with a lighthearted feeling. This room, in his more recent memory, was a mess. With holes in the walls, a gaping and missing ceiling and spiderwebs laced in every corner, it thoroughly fulfilled the role of being part of an abandoned house.
He moves a bit to get a closer look and stops immediately when an unfamiliar pain lances through him. Pulling his hand to touch the pained area, he knowingly retracts his earlier happiness.
"No... I failed. There was no way I could succeed..."
That's right. Rudeus scolds himself. Rudeus is Rudeus, the man who've built up enough bad karma to allow for an eternal stay in hell. Why would he be able to succeed? He had mused earlier that he's destined to fail, why would that change now. Standing in front of him, his past self stutters out
"Who...who are you? Unless... Hitogami?"
The mention of that name wells Rudeus with energy he didn't know he still had. His eyes sharply goes back to the form of his past self. The younger man flinches at the hatred Rudeus is currently feeling.
"No."
Rudeus states this with a bitter edge to his voice. His glare shifts from his past self to the opened door. Rudeus' objectives, his consistency plans, returns to the forefront of his mind. The scroll in his pocket becomes suddenly heavier. The journal weighs at him. His left arm tingles. He points a finger at the opened door and closes it with an untraceable gust of wind. His past self flinches again at the sudden noise resulting in the door closing and fearfully looks at him.
"Don't go to the basement. You've been deceived by Hitogami."
"Eh?"
His past self takes a moment to digest the spoken words and responds cautiously. There was a look of calculation in his eyes. A glint of him trying to understand who he's talking to.
"Wait, before that, who are you? Where did you come from?"
"I am..."
Rudeus makes to say that he was a future him, someone from a time far away, but he pauses. He knows that his past self is of the wary types. There's no way this kind of explanation would just be accepted at face value. No, Rudeus has to start with something shocking, something that he's sure will garner his past self's attention.
"My name is '────'"
Rudeus speaks out their mutual name. The name that the both of them mutually agreed to put away for the rest of their life. His past self widens his eyes again in shock. Seeing this, Rudeus continues on to hit the nail in.
"I come from the future."
The gears in his past self clicks in an attempt to understand. Rudeus stays silent for his past self to connect the dots he's set up for himself. There's no doubt that the younger man noticed things; his similar looks, his claims and many other things.
"You're... you're saying you're the future me?
"Yes. I am you from about 50 years later."
Seeing his past self being more consensual to the idea of them being the same person, Rudeus speaks quickly while remembering the important things that he's regretted so that he can convey them to his past self.
"Sorry, but I don't have the leisure to explain to you the principles of time traveling magic."
"When you say you don't have the leisure to explain..."
Rudeus pauses for a moment at his past self's reply. A smile tugs itself at his lips. The smile dies swiftly at the seriousness of the situation.
"Sorry for the Hollywood movie-like words, but I really don't have time. Listen to me. There is nothing useful in the basement."
Rudeus makes a decisive declaration that made his pass self nod unconsciously.
"I went to the basement myself, and thought there was nothing. The next day, I heard the words, "If there was nothing, then that's good" from Hitogami, and felt reassured. But that was a mistake. I can explain it now."
Rudeus takes a moment of halt to fully organize his thoughts, pulling from long hidden memories.
"Listen, most likely, there's a mouse in the basement. A sick mouse. Its peculiar feature ought to be teeth like violet magic stones. I don't know where that mouse came from or when it entered there. Most likely, one from the demon continent or the sky fortress slipped into some luggage. That doesn't matter. The mouse was frightened by you, and ran away to the kitchen. It then scavenges through leftovers of yesterday's meal, has died the next day, and gets disposed of by Aisha."
"..."
Rudeus notes that his past self is drifting off and so, he begins poaching on the topic that will garner his past self's full attention.
"Those leftovers are given to a stray cat the next day, and disappear. But before that happens, a hungry Roxy goes down the stairs, and picks a little at those leftovers. As a result, she's infected with that mouse's disease."
His past self, to Rudeus' expectation, does indeed give him his concentrated attention at the mention of Roxy being in danger.
"Roxy gets sick?"
"Magic stone disease."
His past self scrunches his eyebrow at the familiar sounding name. Rudeus advances on with his story. The missing stomach is finally making itself known to his conscious health and he can feel his body practically failing him. The scroll in his trouser's pocket becomes heavier.
"I didn't realize it at first. After all, magic stone disease is extremely rare. That virus dwells inside the body, and is only capable of infecting the other life within it."
"The other life?"
"That's right, a fetus. Only pregnant women can contract that illness. I did research later on and was shocked."
"Eh? No, but, Roxy is still-"
"She should be pregnant. But enough of that, you did the deed so isn't that natural?"
His past self somehow finds it in himself to blush a bit despite the matter of topic. Rudeus decides to give a short explanation about the cause of the disease, in case his past self ever comes across another similar case. Hitogami isn't the type to give up if he fails once.
"Mice are carriers for magic stone disease, because a portion of them have resistance to it. You can identify a carrier at a glance, because their teeth have become violet crystal. And the illness spreads to what the mouse bites on. It only infects orally, and the virus doesn't persist for very long. It disappears after around a day at most, and the infection rate is low, and those infected are only fetuses inside pregnant women."
"..."
"The virus grows inside the fetus, proceeds to remold the fetus, and then turns the mother's body into magic stone."
The blush on his past self dies as he makes the connection. Rudeus states it aloud for him anyways.
"If you were to thoughtlessly go to the basement right now and let the mouse out, the next day you'll hear Aisha idly grumble [I found a weird dead mouse this morning], two weeks later you'll be told [A cat infected with magic stone disease was discovered], and right after that Roxy will come down with a fever. And it will be 30 years later before you connect everything together."
"...What happens to Roxy?"
"She dies."
It was a statement that made his past self lose his words.
"Roxy gets a fever and becomes bedridden... You'll understand that it's magic stone disease once you see her feet start to turn to magic stone, but..."
"It didn't get healed? I tried to heal it, didn't I?"
At his past self's remark, Rudeus sadly looks down at his left arm. The arm where the God Rank Detoxification spell lies engraved on his flesh. Too little too late.
"I tried to save her no matter what by going to the holy country of Milis, and succeeded in obtaining the chant for god ranked detoxification magic, but... A lot happened on the way, and it took time. By the time I returned it was too late, half of Roxy's body was crystallized, and she had died."
Rudeus looks back up at his past self and stares at the younger man in the eyes. Making his voice firm, he clearly states again the opinion that his past self should share.
"Don't be misled by the words of Hitogami. If it's you who has knowledge of the previous world, you should understand that much. That guy is the source of every kind of evil; the last boss."
"But, why did he do that to Roxy?"
Rudeus' eyes narrow at the question.
"I don't know. Even now. But it should be certain that he's acting with some kind of objective in mind. At the very end, he said that himself... [Thanks to you being an idiot, things have proceeded to my satisfaction.] ...Shit."
The pit that is his stomach lurches when he became aggravated. Rudeus bites the inside of his cheek and focus on something that's not his anger.
"Orsted or Laplace might know something about Hitogami's goal.. But I haven't met either of them for the past 50 years. Most likely, you won't be able to meet them either, even if you search for them."
"Nanahoshi didn't know where Orsted was?"
Rudeus' face falls momentarily. The face of a Japanese youth appears from the crevice of his mind. Nanahoshi, a name he's not heard for a long time.
"I didn't ask her, but certainly in this current era, it could be worth asking her. Even if she doesn't know where he is, she also thinks a lot about these kinds of things. She might come up with some kind of good idea."
Rudeus edges around the topic and suggests something that might aid his past self. The younger man notices the avoidance and points it out.
"...What happened to Nanahoshi?"
"..."
He stays silent for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell his past self of another folly that he's made. Looking at his hands again, he softly says
"At the very end, she failed. And then became depressed, and I failed to support her... And then..."
"I got it. Enough of that."
"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it either."
Thankfully, his past self is starting to understand that the future is not a bright place and stops the conversation before it got anymore unpleasant. Rudeus recollects himself and continues on to advice his past self about whatever he thinks the younger man will need to know.
"Listen. You'll learn about this around 10 years from now too, but... Hitogami isn't called Hitogami in this world."
"...What do you mean?"
"The God of Humans, written as Human God. There's nobody who doesn't know the name Human God, but only those who've met him directly know the term Hitogami. I don't know why he did something like that... Maybe just to toy with the people who know it."
His past self's eyes lights up in understanding. Rudeus complements himself for catching on so quickly. Then again, the trauma caused by their first meeting with Orsted, and the reason that meeting turned sour, is not something very forgettable.
"At a glance, that guy seemed to only speak about things that were for my sake. Even now, up to this moment, he hasn't told a lie. No lie that I can perceive."
Rudeus begins to describe his impression of Hitogami, so as to give his past self a better picture.
"Each and every thing has been for the sake of this one time, so that the suspicious you would obey him without hesitating at this moment! Don't be tricked! You read it in manga, didn't you? Someone who talks about believing and not believing is definitely lying!"
Sparks fly about as Rudeus remembers more and more about the reasons he wants Hitogami dead. His past self takes a step back with a look of doubt beginning to cast itself into his eyes as Rudeus starts speaking manically.
"Well, I know that, but..."
"You don't understand. After Roxy is Sylphy. Heartbroken from losing Roxy, for a little while you'll stop thinking about Sylphy. Sylphy will be hurt and be in low spirits. That guy will manipulate Luke and take advantage of that."
Rudeus decides to drop the next bomb. His past self needs to have that doubt crushed. He needs not have any amount of trust on the Hitogami.
"Luke?"
"Yeah, later on you'll hear from a woman who kept Luke's company at the time, [When he woke up the next morning, Luke acted flustered and started talking about how he'd heard an oracle from God or something.]"
"And then... what happens?"
"Luke gives advice to Ariel, and Sylphy abandons me and goes to Asura. Together with Ariel who failed to get Perugius's favor! From an inferior position, Ariel starts an internal revolt, and loses. Sylphy is killed in battle."
The line is spoken and his past self falls back into silent contemplation.
"You lose those two."
After a moment, his past self speaks, stating the obvious truth in silent, dreadful understanding. He understood, it wasn't just "you", it could very well be "us".
"Yeah, even now that guy's voice when he revealed his tricks lingers in my ears. [You've done well], the feeling of having my shoulder clapped, and that shrill laughing voice... Shit, fucking hell!"
The memory of his final meeting with the Hitogami pops up in his mind. His anger spikes and his fist punches the table. The impact barely did anything and Rudeus' sudden outburst recoils at his body as another spike of pain; this one being the strongest burst so far. He lets out a pained breath.
"So I'm out of time... But even if I say this, you probably don't know what you should do."
Speaks half to himself and half to his past self. The younger man looks at him with perplexed worry. It looks like his condition is starting to make itself known physically. Rudeus sucks in a deep breath and tries to ignore the pain in his guts.
"First of all, hmm, Eris... I want you to write and send her a letter immediately. Say [Well, I've been a bit unfaithful, but I love you.]"
"I don't love her. It's because of her that I became impotent."
His past self scowls at the tall order and Rudeus smiles in self-derision.
"Forgive her. You're a man, aren't you?"
"..."
"...Though I said that, I ended up not forgiving her, and was antagonistic with her for years."
"Antagonistic?"
"Time and time again, I was almost killed by Eris. She would chase me no matter where I went, and every time she found me, it would turn into a no-holds-barred battle. Well, she took it easy on me. If she wanted to, there were plenty of ways to kill me. She would make sure never to pick a fight where she'd kill me. On the contrary, if I was ever in a crisis, she'd save me from the shadows. Almost like Vegeta."
His past self puzzles at the future love hate relationship that would go on if he didn't apologize. Rudeus scornfully laughs at himself. He didn't understand the truest sense of their relationship either; not until it was too late to fix anyways.
"Well, she's different from the prince of the vegetable nation. She just wanted to be by my side. She had always loved me. She loved me and did her very best for me... But she's bad at expressing herself, and didn't know what she should do, so the only thing she was able to do was hit me."
Rudeus nostalgically recalls all of his meetings with the redheaded girl. It came to him easily, despite the years that have passed by in the interim. His past self makes a complicated face as if to say that he didn't want to do it.
"But Slyphy and Roxy..."
"Not a problem. Sylphy's tolerant about that kind of thing, and Roxy doesn't think that she suits me, so she'll allow it. Even Eris, if you give her an explanation in advance, will agree. Oh, but prepare to get hit. Because she's that kind of woman."
"Even if you say that..."
"Protect all of the women who say they love you. Isn't that nice? What's wrong with that? A man should be reliable."
"Don't say it like it's somebody else's problem."
Rudeus laughs inside his head. It is someone else's problem; his past self's problem. It is not Rudeus' problem anymore because...
"I'm saying it because I was left with no one."
"I have a responsibility toward Sylphy and Roxy..."
His past self continues to use Sylphy and Roxy as an excuse to not interact with Eris. Rudeus huffs lightly and look at the younger man. Did he not understand where the tale between their relationship ended? Was he really dense enough to not understand the implications?
"If you're talking about responsibility, you have one toward Eris too. She's been persevering for your sake the whole time. She's a poor talker so it didn't get through to you, but the whole time. If you don't take responsibility for her, what about all her effort?... You'll be condemned by Ghyslaine. In front of Eris's body."
His past self gives him a look of dismay. So now he gets it.
"Eris... dies too...?"
"Yeah, to cover me. If I remember right... That was when I had a rematch with Atofe. A serious Demon Lord was stronger than I thought, and I let my guard down."
His past self's look of dismay turns into a look of bewilderment; as if to say "are you insane?" Rudeus agrees with the unspoken thought, to lower his guard to a demon king when he was only at that level, he was being stupid.
"Listen, you must send a letter. If you don't want to regret it... If you do it now, it should barely make it there in time."
"Ah, aah, well, if you say that, I'll send it. But, where do I send it?"
His past self is not quite meeting his eyes when he said this. Rudeus glares the younger man into looking at him properly.
"The Holy Land of Swords. You should have had some suspicions, right?"
His past self continues to give him a troubled look. After some deliberation his past self gives in to his demand.
"Got it."
"Don't write it like you're pushing her away. If Eris despairs, you'll be killed."
"I know."
Seeing his past self reluctantly agreeing to his advice, Rudeus lets out another pained breath. He digs his brain to see if there's any other advice he can give his younger self before he expires. Unwillingly, he remembers the most important one.
"Also, I forgot to say something important. Don't oppose Hitogami."
"'Don't oppose'? He deceived you, didn't he?"
"Yeah. But you can't win against Hitogami. I couldn't win against him. Someone like me couldn't arrive at the place where Hitogami is. When I realized that, I trembled. I couldn't even avenge Roxy and Sylphy. I worked this hard to defeat him, but I can't even reach him. I can even manipulate gravity, but he won't come within the reach of my hand."
Rudeus points at the inkwell on the desk that he's sitting at. Following his will, it floats up into the air and falls after a moment.
"I can float in the air and communicate with others over long distances. I regenerated my arm. Not to mention I can even jump through time and fly to the past... Well, this magic is a failure, though."
Sighing aloud, Rudeus looks back at his life's worth of work.
"You probably vaguely sensed it already, but what's called magic in this world is omnipotent. Once you realize that, you can essentially do anything."
In the end, understanding this still didn't allow him to do anything properly.
"But this power no longer means anything. I was too late. When I became strong, there wasn't a single person left I wanted to protect."
Even now, he can't do anything. With all the power that he's accumulated, he sits here dying. The scroll in his pocket finally weighted enough for him to take notice of it. He considers using it but, decides that he's better off not. He's a dying man, a hopeless person who's failed everything that believed in him. It's better that he ends his story here, making one difference.
"Listen, I'll say it again. I hate Hitogami but I can't beat him. There's no way to. I don't have the technique to arrive at his place. In the era I live in, the thing that's necessary to reach Hitogami's location does not exist. So don't fight with him. I don't know what his goal is, but it's fine if you even act servile, just don't oppose him. You'll just get done in by him, with everything still going as he wants. In which case, right now, before anyone's died..."
His body begins shaking uncontrollably. His hand, which was still pointing at the inkwell, falls sluggishly to his side and his vision starts blurring. Rudeus looks up at the ceiling and keeps going with his speech.
"There are three things you should do; consult with Nanahoshi, send a letter to Eris, doubt Hitogami, but don't oppose him. That's all."
With a rough summary, he closes his mouth.
"..."
His past self continues to stay silent even after he finishes. He recalls his old habit of waiting for orders til the very end. It was a bad habit that he quickly got rid of when he had his last conversation with Hitogami.
"Y-You don't have any more concrete advice or anything?"
As if to affirm it, his past self shows his reliance by asking for more help, more details. He smiles lightly and looks up to the night sky; or the ceiling now, seeing as this version of the house is not missing a roof.
"How nostalgic. Come to think of it, the me of this era was quite a slacker... Well, of course, I'd like to teach you more details about various things, but... We're out of time."
"You've been saying you don't have time, you're out of time, etcetera, for a while now. Is a late night anime starting or something?"
Rudeus looks back down from the ceiling to stare at his past self in the eyes. He sees the young man with a lost expression.
"No... It's ending. By the way, don't depend on other people so much. When you first came to this world, in the early days, you didn't merely rely on other people, did you...?"
A sharp squeeze of his stomach muscle drains him of his consciousness for a scant second. His vision momentarily darkens before he forcibly open his eyes to return his sight to its blurry, failing self.
"You... will lead a different life than I did. Just as you always have, you'll have successes, you'll have failures, you'll have times you reflect, and you'll have times you regret."
Rudeus makes an attempt to get up from his seat but keels over almost immediately. His limbs held no strength in them to hold him. His past self rushes over to help him and give him a shoulder. Judging from the alarm in his past self's eyes, he concluded that the younger man knew what was happening.
The quote "the only one you can rely on is yourself" pops up to the forefront of Rudeus' mind as he continues to smile at the irony of the situation. He pulls himself closer so that he could simply hand the journal and scroll to his younger self. Thankfully, his failing limbs allowed the action.
"I... don't think that, because I came from the future, I'll be able to recover from my mistakes. This magic is a failure... There should be no do-overs in human life..."
Rudeus pulls out the journal and the scroll from his robe and pocket before weakly handing it to his past self.
"I jumped with the diary as a point of origin... so I brought it... What I've experienced is written in it... Do your best... so that you don't have regrets... Don't become like me, and have that guy laugh at you... please..."
His past self was too shock at what's happening to coherently take the offering. The journal and scroll falls to the ground as a result. His past self follows the fall of the two items and catches sight of the reason for his currently dying self.
"What's... with that body...?"
"Hah, it was... incomplete... My past teleportation... wasn't able to... take my... entire body..."
"Eh, but, earlier, you said you could regrow an arm..."
"I don't have any more mana... Sorry... If only Cliff was alive, the past teleportation would've been better able to... a little more, here, information for you..."
"...I'm sorry, it's okay, so don't speak."
"...I brought three things to help you... the first is the journal... Read it and learn from my failure... The second is a message in my left arm... the God Rank Detoxification spell... The third... the scroll, give it to Cliff... so that he can remake the... God Rank Healing spell... use it well..."
Rudeus releases another labored breath. He mirthlessly thought that it would be his last. His younger self says something, but he couldn't hear it.
"...You... have regret... as Hitogami wants... why in a place like this... what I should say... I came to the past, so at least a glance..."
His Demon Eye of Foresight involuntary activates and show him a taste of what he was hoping to see all along.
"Aah, Sylphy, Roxy... Damn, you sure are cute as ever..."
A single tear falls from his eye as his vision darkens again. This time, he allows for himself to blissfully fall asleep. His past self says something to him again but he did not answer. His last thought before he fully lost his senses was an apology.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ＼\('0')/／ ︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)
The man who called himself my future self slumps into my shoulder and I yell at him to stay awake. He starts mumbling something about regret as he stares at the door, his eyes glazing over.
I can tell that he's dying. I dig my brain for a way to safe him and my eyes glance by the scroll he dropped. It was the scroll that he told me to give to Cliff; the scroll that could be used to recreate a God Rank Healing spell.
I hastily sit him to the ground, leaning against the table and pull the scroll into my hand. When I open it, my eyes catch a glimpse of an impossibly complicated looking design. From top to bottom and everything in between, the pages are filled to the brim with ink.
My brain took a moment to process it and I realize that this is a magic scroll.
I ask the man how to use it immediately after realizing what it is. He didn't answer and instead continues to mumble something incomprehensible.
I click my tongue and push the scroll against his chest before pouring my mana into it.
I'm not sure how it worked but the scroll operated like a magic chant and drew my mana to cast the magic. A soft glow appears to surround the man's body as a small tear leaves his eyes.
Promptly, the man's stomach, a hollow void of a thing, beings to fill up. His skin color begins to show signs of becoming normal again and under my hand, I feel a faint but definite heartbeat.
Seeing that what I'm doing is working, I continue to pour mana into the scroll until it couldn't take in any more.
"Rudi, I heard some kind of voice and sounds. Is someone there?"
"Is it a thief?"
My heart skips a beat when I hear Roxy's and Sylphy's voice coming from the other side of the door. The door knobs squeaks as one of them turn it to open the door.
I quickly debated about letting them see this scene and decide against it. I swiftly stride up to the door as the doorknob clicks and hold it close.
"No, I'm sorry. I was half asleep. I saw a weird dream and ended up using magic. Looks like I woke you two up, I'm sorry."
I hurriedly make an excuse to give them. The door is pushed against my hand for a moment as one of the two, Roxy or Sylphy, tries to open the door. The pushing stops when they hear my voice.
"A dream that made you use magic while half asleep... I heard something like a shout too, is everything okay? If it's tough, should we sleep together? I mean, grandmother said [Human warmth is the best when you want to forget something painful]..."
Sylphy's worried voice speaks up from behind the close door. I swell a bit with happiness at her concern but tell her with a forcibly steadied and casual tone,
"No, it's fine. I'd probably do something lewd, after all. Sylphy's not back to her normal condition yet, right?"
Sylphy's face is probably marred with worry right now. I want to go out there and take up her offer but I've decided that the dying man before me is more important. Letting them know about him now... I'm not sure what will happen. I will make plans later when I get time to myself but for now, I'll just do this.
"If you say it's really, really tough, I don't mind, but... No, but recently I've been thinking that it's possible, so if you can I'd rather you just limit it to touching..."
Roxy speaks up afterwards, offering herself to me. I bite my lower lip at the suggestion and turn her down as well. My heart cries in my chest but I steadfastly continue on the path I've chosen. In the back of my mind, I recall the man saying that Roxy is pregnant. Perhaps that's the reason she seems so sickly these past few days.
"...I'm really fine, so you two can return to bed. I'm going to sleep too, after tidying up the room."
The two stay silent for a stretched moment after I say this.
"If Rudi says that, I'll do so, but... If it's not all right, tell me, okay?"
"We are married, so please don't be reserved. Well then, goodnight."
After a while, they say this and return to their rooms. I keep my hand against the door and listen to their footsteps; all the way until they've gone up the stairs and out of my hearing range.
I take a look back at the man and see that the light of the scroll is dimming down to a dull glow. I quickly make it to his side and take hold of the scroll; preparing to pour more mana into it just in case the previous intake wasn't enough.
The worry becomes an unneeded one since the man's visage is as healthy as it can be. The scroll slides off of the man's chest and into my hands. Its texture is dry, almost brittle.
I look at the scroll in my hand and blink in surprise when I see that it is literally falling apart. As if it is an ancient parchment, the scroll slowly turns to dust in my hand. After a minute, the scroll fades into nothingness, leaving only a dim ember that also disappears with within seconds.
I stare at my hand and hope that the scroll wasn't something the old man couldn't reproduce.
I turn my gaze back to the older me and see that he's sleeping peacefully now. The healing light that encircled him is gone like the scroll and the only thing that marked its existence is the healthy man in front of me.
The man is breathing lightly. His sleeping face makes him look like he's lost at least a decade of age.
The wrinkles that were prominent during our conversation has been wiped off of him and the similarities between us becomes easier to see. Looking at his almost peaceful face, I am reminded of Paul.
I take a deep breath and perk my ears again to hear if Roxy or Sylphy is still around. Hearing nothing, I walk towards and open the door to stick my head out to see. Fully activating my eye of foresight, I look into the future and see ahead by a few minutes; nobody shows up in my vision, not a shadow nor a blur.
I return to the man and put the journal onto the table before leaning him up to my shoulder. Giving a huff of effort as I pull him up, I walk out the room and begin to drag him into the open guest room upstairs. I'm at the risk of having Roxy and Sylphy seeing me so I minimize all sound with a wind spell and continue to leave my eye of foresight operational to allow me to see a few minutes ahead.
After what feels like an hour of effort, I manage to lay the man on to the guest room's bed. Throughout the whole trip, he stayed completely comatose and didn't do anything but breath to show that he's alive. Seeing nothing change as he lays in the bed, I decide to leave him there.
I walk out the room, careful to close the door noiselessly, and go back downstairs. This time, I take the stairs down to the basement as well. Passing by my staff, I grab it just in case.
I pull out a light spirit scroll from my pocket and illuminate the stairway. As with the case of me sneaking around my future self, I have my eye of foresight fully activated.
I walk down the stairway in a slow and deliberate manner, making sure that I don't miss any details. After a few minutes' passing, I stand in front of the basement's doorway.
I put my hand against the door, preparing to push it, when the light spirit moves slightly. It attracts my attention towards a small portion of the floor where the layer of dust is unsettled by small footprints; a rat's footprint, if I had to guess.
The prints point towards going inside of the basement door but doesn't point out. I narrow my eyes and pull my hand away from the door.
Instead of opening it, I punch a hole into the door and stick my staff through it. My mind pulls out a picture of two magic melding to create a giant layer of flash freezing ice. The spell's sensation runs through me. My mana corresponds to my will and is sent through the staff. Out of habit, I say aloud
"Frost Nova."
Through the door, I sense a quick drop in temperature. Still, I didn't trust myself to be done with just that. Once again, I cast the spell and say for the second time
"Frost, Nova."
Permeating through the stairwell, the second layer of ice's temperature breaks through the door to rob everything in my vicinity of heat.
I withdraw my staff and send the light spirit through the hole so that I could get a good look. Peeking in, I can see nothing but ice. My eye of foresight tells me there is nothing that will move for the next couple of minutes.
I open the entrance, quickly come in and a close it behind me with an audible slam. I look around the ice covered room and make a brief inspection of the area to locate the mouse.
The creature was easy to spot. Laying dead frozen in a thick layer of ice near the hidden door to Roxy's shrine, I found it almost immediately.
A closer look confirms the man's only description of the rat; transparent, violet, magic stone-like teeth. I make a sharpened pole with earth magic and stab it into the ice to pierce the rat's skull.
I have no idea if killing it will make the magic stone virus die off as well but it's better safe than to be sorry.
I cut off the block of ice that surrounds the mouse's dead corpse and put the block into a container made from more earth magic.
I debate on whether or not to burn the corpse and decide that I'll leave it as is until the man wakes up. I leave the sealed container at near the room's entrance and encase it in another layer of ice.
Afterwards, I walk out of and lock the door, seal up the opened hole in the door and wall off the stairway to contain any trace of the virus. If the option wasn't a fire hazard to my family right now, I would've burned the attic down to the ground for safe measures; just out of precaution.
Following my quarantine of the basement, I return to my office/laboratory/something area. I feel more energetically restless than tired with my nerves being on high sting.
I close the office door quietly and make my way to my seat. I note the ink stain on the table and the burn mark caused by the man's fist.
I take a seat in the chair and remember the man's three advice; to talk to Nanahoshi about what I should do, to send a letter to Eris before it's too late and to never trust Hitogami.
With agitated feelings, I decide that I should write the letter to Eris now before things start to pick up when the man wakes up.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ＼\('0')/／ ︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)
"Mmhmmm!"
Waking up with a stiff neck, I stretch and satisfyingly pop a few creaky joints. I wipe off the stream of dried drool and look around me blearily.
I find myself still sitting in my office chair. There's a letter and many drafts of it taking up space on my desk. I take the educated guess to come up with the theory that I've fallen asleep writing the letter.
I pick up the finalized draft that I've decided on. It's a bare-bone message that can be sum up to saying I'm fine with accepting her. The contents of it will change greatly depending on the talk I'm planning to later have with Roxy, Sylphy and possibly my future self, if he's awake.
I involuntarily remember the older face of myself. I wonder if he's actually awake right now.
I push myself away from the desk and stand up to get out of the room so that I can check up on him. I may not know much about healing magic but I'm technically Saint Rank in it. If push comes to shove, I can do a good patchwork healing; not that I think I'd be much help if a self-proclaimed God Rank healing spell couldn't.
I gently close the door to my office as I leave after making note that it's still early in the morning. Just as gently as when I closed my door, I quietly make my way upstairs.
I round the corner of the stairs once I'm on the second floor to see that the reception room's door is slightly open. I promptly make my way to the open door and fully open it.
The room looks unchanged from how I've last seen it, with the exception of the old man. The now missing old man.
I walk up to the bed, with its sheets neatly folded and look at where I last left the man. There's not even a crumple on the blankets.
I look at the bed mildly perplexed and flip the blanket into the air. The man wasn't underneath it.
What was underneath it, though, is a note written in Japanese. A note with the simple quote, "I'll be back" and a little picture of a hand holding itself in a thumbs up position.
As if writing it in Japanese is not enough to convince me that this letter is from him, my future self includes a quote to pass his message along.
I sigh at the letter and fold it up to put into my pocket.
The door creaks behind me as I do so and I turn around to see a sleepy Aisha standing at the doorway.
"Brother? What are you doing in the guestroom?"
Covering a mouth gaping yawn, Aisha asks me sleepily. I can tell that she's been sleeping until just earlier since she's still wearing her nightgown and is rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out of it.
"I worked a bit too much in the office and decided to take a little nap. It looks like I slept in the wrong room."
"To work that much... Brother, you should take care of your health. If there's anything I can help you with, just tell me and it will be done."
Seeing Aisha's worry, I go up to her and pat her head. She allowed me to do it. Her bedhead and sleepy pacifism makes her strangely adorable when I compare her to her usual happy self.
"Don't worry, I know you and Lilia will always be there for me."
"Mnnn, you should go to your room to rest up. I'll clean up this room."
After a few moments, Aisha pulls away from me to pushes me towards my room.
I compliantly leave the guest room but as soon as she turns to make the bed, I sneak back to the stairway to get downstairs.
I nudge the letter in my pocket and remember the thing that he brought from the future to give to me; his journal, the recollection of his past. He said that I should read it so that I won't make the same mistakes he did.
I return to my office and lock the door before pulling the thickly banded book into my hands. Just looking at the many differently colored pages already tells me the rough time that the journal's gone through.
I take a seat at the table and open it to the first page. I begin reading the story of my future self.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ＼\('0')/／ ︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)
"Is something wrong, master Rudeus?"
"Hmm? Something wrong? There's nothing wrong. Why do you ask, Lilia?"
"You've been strangely restless since this morning. I was worried..."
"It's nothing much. Don't worry too much, Lilia. I'm just thinking of some things right now."
"Very well, master Rudeus. Why don't you take a seat, I'll make some tea."
"Yeah, thanks. Lilia."
"It is of no trouble."
Listening to my step-mother, I take a seat in the living room's couch after worrying the woman with my continuous shuffling. It's been three days since I've met my future self and two since I've learned of his depressing story. In those two days, I've brought myself closure for not getting Roxy killed, talked to Roxy and Sylphy about my possible marriage with Eris, finished reading the future diary and... talked to Hitogami.
The self proclaimed Human God made the conversation short. He admitted to having intentions of killing Roxy and he admitted that he did it not for my benefit but for his own.
To find out that my descendants are the cause of my and Hitogami's current anxiety is both a blessing and a curse. To be able to know that Hitogami will die one day and get his justice served, I feel that it's a blessing. To be able to know that Hitogami, the person who's seems to know everything, is an enemy, I feel that it's a curse. After reading of the downward spiral my future self went through, I only fear Hitogami more. That's why, when he gave me the ultimatum to either work for him or live in ruins, I would feel nervous.
Hitogami made the deal very simply. I only had to do one thing to keep my family safe from his wrath, kill the Dragon God Orsted. Hitogami gave me various reasons towards why killing the Dragon God is a good idea, saving the world, killing off an unknown menace, and other nonsense, but I sensed an underlying implication in the way he spoke. He didn't care for these reasons. This deal was for his sake alone, I have nothing to gain from it but the words of someone who admitted to lying to me once.
As of right now, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The journal of my future self delved lightly on the topic of Dragon God Orsted; mainly that he came from the dragon clan long past and that they've developed many techniques to fighting against Hitogami for some reason.
If that is true, it makes even less sense for me to want to kill the man. Him taking out Hitogami would be a boon to me... if it wasn't for the cost that comes with losing my family. My future self said so himself, there's no way to reach Hitogami's domain, not in our shared lifetime. He advised me to listen to Hitogami for fear of losing our family again.
This brings me to the conclusion, I have to fight the Dragon God Orsted. I grimace at the option. Fight, this implies that I could actually match the superhuman who've killed me once already. I doubt I can even make him break a sweat. From my past self who've fought him to my current self, we're not that different.
Sure, I'm grown up and I have better handling with my magic but so what? What's a definite difference that will give me an edge over fighting the man? My saint rank spells in all magical category? The man brushed off an attack that a demon lord claimed was emperor class. My advanced rank mastery over swordsmanship? That's a good joke, the man brushed Ruijerd and Eris off like flies. My otherworldly knowledge? Sure, why don't I build a nation from scratch to go along with that. Facing reality, I have nothing to trump me over the man known as Dragon God Orsted. Even with the magic armor that I'm planning on making later to counter the Dragon God Orsted, I doubt I'd be able to stand much of a chance...
"I'm home~!"
Breaking apart my contemplation, Aisha opens the front door energetically and walks in with some grocery bags in hand.
"I'm back, Rudi."
Sylphy follows along in a less lively manner than my sister. She has a bag of grocery in her hands as well. I get up from my seat to come and help her.
"Welcome back, Madam Sylphy, Aisha. How was the shopping trip?"
As I take the heavy bag from Sylphy and get a thanks along the way, Lilia walks out of the kitchen with a crying Lucy in hand. Sylphy gives me a quick kiss on my cheek and goes to take our baby girl. I vaguely recall the two of them, Sylphy and Aisha mentioning that they were going to go shopping earlier this morning.
I look out the still opened door. The sun is considerably risen higher than earlier. It must be around late afternoon by now. I only sat down at early morning, did I really spend that much time thinking things?
"It was fine. Aisha really knew her way around the market and got us so many things for such a cheap price."
"Yup, we'll be eating good fish tonight!"
Carrying a happily smiling Lucy in hands, Sylphy makes small talk with Lilia while Aisha puts away the grocery she's procured. When she sees me walking in with the last bag, she proudly puffs out her chest and stand half an arm's length away from me. I got the message and pet her head while laying the last bag on to the counter.
"Rudi, you said that you were going to go to the Adventurer's Guild later right? Do you mind if I come along? I want to check up on a commission I've requested a few weeks ago."
"Adventuerer's Guild? Ah, yeah. I was planning on going sometime today."
Hearing Sylphy speak to me, I stop petting Aisha to let her get back to packing away the grocery and turn around. Sylphy is taping Lucy lightly while bouncing her up and down. It seems to calm my daughter down from whatever it was that was troubling her earlier.
"At around now would be good, actually. Let me get the letter."
Sylphy nods agreeably and hands a pacified Lucy back to Lilia. She then stands by the door and waits for me. I hurry to my office to get the letter I was planing on sending to Eris. I pull on my robe and take my staff into hand as well before leaving the room.
Together with Sylphy, I leave the house to do my business.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ＼\('0')/／ ︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)
"-The beasties in the plains are getting more and more aggressive each day I tell you-!"
"-Supposedly, there's a herb field being grown somewhere in the woods east of here-"
"-DRINK MORE, GI- GIVE ME ANOTHE-"
"Can I get seconds on this-?"
"-Excuses me, coming through, watch out there, buddy-"
"-There's nothing new on the board, did you even update this-?"
As always, the main hall of the Adventurer's Guild is loud and disruptive, giving off an energetic feel to it. My wife and I walk in, hand in hand, to the cacophony going at full blast.
Sylphy squeezes my hand and lets go after giving me a peck to my cheek to go to the commissions' desk. She's put up a request for some herbs collection and wanted go check up on it after hearing that someone took the quest.
I watch her go off for a second before turning to the direction I need to go towards; the carrier desk. Even if it will take a while, the Adventurer's Guild mailing system is the safest in this world to guaranty that the letter will make it to the person it's addressed to.
"-Ahh!"
On my way to the desk, I am pulled by the back of my robe and fall back into a seat at one of the occupied tables in the hall.
"You really need to be more wary of your surrounding. Even if this is a safe area, at least take a cautionary look around to see anything suspicious. You never know, there might be the criminal leaving out the other exit."
A baritone voice speaks casually to me as I fall into my seat. The tone tickles at my memory, telling me that I'd know who the voice belongs to if I were to see his face. I turn around in my seat just to do that.
"...I can't tell if that's proper advice or a quote that you've butchered into nonrecognition."
"It's been seventy years, I honestly can't remember much from that place even if I try. Take it as a good advice that'll help you in the long run."
I recognized him immediately when I saw his face; him, his mirthful eyes, his crooked smile, his white hair and all. It was my future self. He's dressed in an adventurer's casual fashion, now donning a new brown robe, a medium size iron sword and a magic staff with a decently sized mana stone in it. He's also shaved off that beard that covered everything under his nose. Thanks to that, he's also shaved a few years off of his physical appearance. His skin complexion is now a healthy tan compared to the sweaty pale gray that it was when I last saw him.
"So where have you been?"
"Traveling around to look up on things. I was planning on visiting the house later when everyone's asleep."
"Really? Why not when they're awake, you could just say that you're an uncle on dad's side or something. You look alike enough to make that claim."
"That's not the issue, it's just awkward for me to meet everyone right now... I'm still not sure how I feel about them being alive... well, besides being relieved, that is."
"That's a morbid way to say it."
Putting my original purpose for coming here on hold, I readjust and settle into the seat I was pulled into. He looks a bit put off with the topic at hand so I decide to not continue on with it.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Only killing time. As I said, I was going to come over to your house when it gets darker."
His shoulders slacks a bit and he puts up his left hand to order something from the nearby waitress. He didn't say a word but the woman seems to understand what he wants as she walks off after giving him a nod. My future self then takes a long drink from his cup before continuing on.
"I also took the precaution to make a few arrangements that might be to your advantage. It's not much but I think it'd help in the long run."
"You look like you're enjoying yourself. Meanwhile, I'm stressing out here, you know."
"What do you have to be stressing out about?"
"Hitogami."
"...What happened?"
With just one word, the conversation tilts on its head and all sense of casualness disappears. My future self puts aside the half eaten plates, the pints of beverages and clears the table. His mouth frowns as he gives me his full attention.
I tell him about what happened the last three days after he left the house. I tell him about my talk with Sylphy and Roxy, the letter I've written and was about to send, my meeting with Hitogami and my plans to take on Dragon God Orsted in exchange for keeping our family safe.
When I finish, I stay silent for my future self to process what I've just told him. He grimly looks down to his clenched fist and think thoughts that are unknown to me; all while whispering under his breath words that sounds vaguely like a curse. After a few scant seconds, he looks up and meets my eyes.
"That isn't going to work. It is impossible for either of us to kill Dragon God Orsted with our own hands."
His words hit me like a punch to my guts. Seeing him say these words that have been on the forefront of my mind in such a detached manner, it makes me squelch in my own powerlessness.
"As you've stated before, between now and the first time you've met him, you are still not a threat to the Dragon God. That is a matter of fact. Magic armor will not help either. I will tell you this now as another fact. Not even the original magic armor which I've borrowed the design of was a match for the Dragon God."
As if punctuating my weakness, he presses on.
"Around eighty or so years ago, a reclusive magician who gained the title of Fire Magic God disappeared from his home in the Begaritt Kingdom. If you go there now, the place where he used to live, you'll find a still flaming crater. It was also around this time that Dragon God Orsted first made an appearance as a title on the Seven Great World Power stones."
What exactly that meant, he left in the air for me to figure out. The message was clear though. If someone who was acknowledged as a God of magic rank couldn't survive, there's no chance in me being able to. I grit my teeth.
"Then... what am I supposed to do."
My future self narrows his eyes. His eyebrows scrunches in concentration and he mutters something under his breath. He clicks his tongue after a while and stands up.
"I have a few ideas that we can work with. I'll pull something on my end and you just keep going with that plan of yours on your end."
He reaches into his robe's and pull out a long parchment of paper. He spreads it out on the table and begins tracing over the surface with his index finger. Amazingly, the blank parchment becomes filled with paragraphs of words and diagrams of pictures of an armor.
"Talk to Nanahoshi and get her to contact Dragon God Orsted. Talk to Cliff and Zanoba to start making the magic armor. Distract Hitogami and make it look like you're following his request to kill the Dragon God."
Once the parchment is completely finished being filled, my future self rolls it up and thrusts it to me, forcing it into my hands.
"Here's a copy of my version of the magic armor. Give it to Cliff to improve on it. If Hitogami bothers to ask, just tell him that you've convinced me to go along with the "killing Orsted" scheme. He shouldn't know we're meeting now since I have this ring on so tell him that it's me specifically."
My future self picks up his staff and turns to leave. He pauses for a moment to contemplate something before reaching into his robe's pocket again. He pulls out a small bag and a piece of paper which he also hands to me.
"I'll send some people your way to make it look more genuine. Just stay with Sylphy and the rest and keep them safe. I'll do whatever is needed to be done otherwise for our part."
With that, he leaves me in my seat and swiftly exits the building. I take a minute to look at where he sat before turning my gaze down to the things he's left for me.
The diagram, like my first impression of it, is an overly complicated mess of words, measurements and drawings. It looks like my future self helpfully tried to insert an instructional guide on how to manually manufacture each part of the magic armor but I can tell, with how it's made, that he did the bulk of the work with magic.
The bag is just a little pouch which has some plants and seeds in it. The piece of paper, after a moment of deciphering, becomes understandable to me as a mission request from the very guild I'm sitting in. The requester is Sylphy.
The waitress from earlier comes back with two cups of drinks and a few plates of food. Upon seeing that my future self isn't around anymore, she puts on a troubled face and turns to me. I paid her the money needed and tipped her for my future self.
The drinks and dishes she brought were really delicious. As expected of my future self, he understands my taste perfectly.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ＼\('0')/／ ︵ ┻━┻ ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)
After sending the letter to Eris and turning in the quest to Sylphy at the Advanturer's Guild, something that earned me a loving smooch on my cheeks, I leave and make my way to the Sky Fortress. I separate from Sylphy again and go straight to Nanahoshi.
Meeting her while she's still in bed, I tell her the gist of what's happened the past few days from when I last talked to her. By the end of the narrative, she was rubbing her forehead. Ah, I guess she's still recovering from the Drine disease. Her color of her skin is still relatively pale, even if it's getting better. Perhaps I should've come later, huh?
"Are you sure that this is from your future self?"
While I'm peeling a fruit for her, she looks at me like I'm a pitiful child who's been duped. I can't blame her for having thinking something on that line. Even if we're both in another world, time travel still seems like a far-fetched idea. If she tells me that her future self came back in time to fix what's been wronged, I would skeptically question her as well.
"I'm sure that man was me."
"How are you so sure, the only prove you have is the notebook."
She sits up in her bed and props an extra pillow behind her back. He finish cutting the peeled fruit and hand her the less ugly slices. She accepts it.
"He also knew my real name and was able to use chantless magic as well as having an evil eye. The chances are pretty good that he's me-"
"-Or he could be an agent of the Human God."
While munching into the fruit slice, Nanahoshi says what I fear most. If that is true, it'd be a scary thing; what if Hitogami knows so much about me and my thought process that he can convince me of the most outlandish thing. The phrase "What if Hitogami" would probably plague me straight to my deathbed and I don't think I'll be able to trust anyone after that.
"...I think that now's a good time to mention that I've heard of the Human God as well."
"You've met him?"
"No, I heard of him from Orsted after he killed you. Not much, though, but enough to understand that he wants to kill him."
Nanahoshi thankfully changes the subject of the conversation to something else. She mentions the time of our first meeting. I gulp nervously when I recall the memory. My hand shifts to the phantom wound that is not there anymore.
"And he can't?"
"Yeah. Orsted mentioned that it was impossible for him to kill the Human God at the time."
"My future self also said something about that..."
If I remember correctly, he said that he couldn't go to Hitogami's place to fight. There was something about us not living in the right era.
"Speaking of your future self, was he the one who told you to consult me?"
"Yeah. He said you're the type of person think better in these situation."
"Hoh? Is that what he thinks of me? I guess he'd be the one to know, he supposedly has more experience."
A certain topic is reminded in my head. The ending fate of Nanahoshi in the future. I debate on whether I should tell her or not. After a second, I decide that she should know. If only so that she can prepare herself.
"I doubt it. He said that you failed in the very end and that he never talked to you again."
Nanahoshi's eyes open widely. She purses her lips a moment later and narrows her eyes.
"I... see."
"Sorry..."
"No, there's nothing to be sorry about. Since the beginning, there's always a chance that he is a fake and that this is a lie."
From the troubled look she's putting on her face, I doubt that she believes her own words.
"Anyways, he left a diary with you right?"
"Yeah. He said that he used this diary as his landmark to travel back in time."
I pull out the diary from my robe and shows it to her. She curiously look at the aged book and reaches for it. I made it easier by putting it on her laps. She flips through the first few pages then skip to the middle and grimaces.
"Your handwriting is sloppy."
"I was told that most of this was written when he was drunk."
It was more of an implication but whatever, gotta defend myself somehow.
"Mind if I read it?"
"Go ahead, it'll help me if you actually did."
"Then I'll borrow this for today. Come back tomorrow to get it."
"You plan to read it all tonight?"
"It's my specialty so of course."
Huh, I guess a student's specialty is reading after all.
"Well then, I'll go get some sleep in the meantime."
I get up from my seat and hands Nanahoshi the edible remains of the cut fruit. They might look ugly, but they're still edible. I doubt she's going to eat it though. It survived our conversation for this long.
"You look like you could use it."
"Yeah, well, I'll be counting on you."
"Leave it to me."
I walk out the door and closes it with the last thing I see of the room being Nanahoshi reading the diary. Her brow scrunches in concentration and I can only hope that she doesn't tire herself deciphering some nonsensical things my future self wrote.