Two years and six months. Since I was in that place for about half a year, it was safe to say that time passed in approximately a five to one ratio. The problem was that this time relationship did not seem to be fixed.
«Amelia, did you arrive before me?» I asked this, although I was already half convinced, and the answer came immediately.
«Yes, it was a long wait. The magic device you're holding now is one I left behind so he'd let me know immediately when you got back. Well... I didn't know it would take more than two years to receive the signal». come.»
No wonder a beep sounded when I woke up. That was the sound when the device turned on.
«Anyway, I'll explain everything you want to know later, so hurry up and run for now». Amelia seemed to want to end the talk and focus everything on getting out of here, but I couldn't do it so willingly. I just couldn't understand it.
«Wait, if the pursuer is Erwen, why do we have to run?»
«I don't know about you, but that woman will definitely try to kill me. If we fight in this city where the oath is in effect, I will inevitably lose».
I understand that you will lose, but...
«Why the hell would I kill you?»
«Because she thinks I have something to do with your death».
«Ah...» At those words, the situation appeared in my head to a certain extent. However, he couldn't understand Amelia's actions. «But I can meet her and persuade her—»
«Persuading will not be easy».
"... ¿Which? ⁇
When I asked her as if she couldn't understand, Amelia stopped walking. Then he looked at me and said in a serious voice: «Yandel, that woman is not the fairy you met back then». His face seemed to be reminiscent of some kind of monster. Amelia was convinced that not even I could control Erwen.
«What happened during that time...?»
«Many things happened. There is no time to explain them in detail». Amelia firmly cut off my murmurs and continued: «I doubt that woman still has the will to do that, but there's only one thing that matters.».
"¿W-what is that...?"
«That woman can't protect you».
It had really been a long time since I felt this way. No matter how much we talked, it felt like nothing was getting organized in my head.
«... Protect? Me? Whose?» I asked dazed.
Amelia responded dryly again: «Everything in this world». What the hell did this mean? Just as I was about to ask a new question, Amelia said my name. «Bjorn Yandel. This is what happened two years ago.» Like a doctor giving his patient a terminal diagnosis, he said in a firm but bitter voice: «The palace announced that you are an evil spirit».
... Now what?
***
It was a quiet afternoon in an office where warm sunlight poured in through the windows. However, the interior was far from peaceful.
«...That's all.» Announcing the end of the regular report, Alex Halo, assistant deputy commander of the third Magic Troop, observed his superior's face with his chin rigidly raised.
I was reading the document with a frown. «Hmm...» Once he finished, his superior raised his head and looked at him with that same tired look in his eyes. Seeing this, he sighed in relief in silence. I knew it from past experiences. At least this time, he got through it safely. «That was well written. The content of the report was also good. The part about the movement in Noark was especially interesting. Although it's just a guess, it was still imaginative. At least better than the trash you brought me. far.»
Was this an insult or a compliment? Alex couldn't say it, but his next line was already decided. «Thank-»
«Is that what you thought I would say?»
Oh hell.
Trago.
The voice that changed instantly made him swallow. His superior's eyes were no longer plagued with fatigue. No, they still looked fatigued, but at least they weren't sleepy. They were the eyes of a predator looking at a herbivore just before it chewed it. If he stayed quiet here, he'd be really screwed.
«If you tell me what needs to be corrected, I will correct it».
«First, your style is the problem. Especially this part. I'm sure I pointed it out last time, but you made the same mistake. Don't you know that this is sent to Commander Pevrosk with my approval?»
«...I will correct it.»
«No, the content itself is the problem in the first place. Could the people of Noark be living in the labyrinth? Why don't you become a writer? I don't think you'll sell it though».
«I will correct it.»
«Are you a parrot? How are you going to correct it? That's what you should tell me».
Wow, it's finally over.
«...I'll write it again.»
«Good then.» His eyes finally turned to another document and Alex turned around, trying to hold his crushed soul together. He then closed the door carefully so as not to disturb his superior, who was already focused on another task.
Crujir.
He could see his superior through the gradually narrowing space in the door. Her tired but hard-working appearance had a quality that caught people's attention. Was that because? The corps soldiers feared her, but for some reason they did not dislike her.
If I were a little nicer, I would be a lot more popular...
She was the golden sorceress, the deputy commander of the third Magic Troop, most famous in body with the nickname Little Devil.
She is definitely pretty.
«What are you doing? You are not leaving?»
«E-excuse me. Nia Rafdonia!» The surprised man saluted and quickly slammed the door he had been carefully closing.
«Ha... when will it be useful?»
Looking at the closed door for a moment, golden mage Arua Raven sighed. Of course, his attention soon changed. Moving his pen again, he tackled the tasks accumulated on his desk one by one.
«That's all for today.» After a while like this, Raven stretched out her stiff body and looked out the window. The world beyond the wind was already dark when the sun had set.
Since I finished all the important tasks today, I can come early tomorrow to finish the rest...
Raven was unbuttoning her uniform one by one when she laughed bitterly and buttoned them again. Tomorrow I would wear these clothes to work again. Did it make sense to change? Then, simply putting on his officer's coat, he organized his desk and finally checked the calendar.
New World Era 154, December 2. She still felt strange every time she looked at the calendar. It was time for things to get better, but his body still stiffened at times and his heart sank like that. Because he knew the loss, he felt with greater pain that the short expedition he experienced with him and his comrades was so joyful and brilliant. But those days could never come back now.
It's been more than two years now...
To explain in detail all the things that happened in the last two and a half years, not even a few days would be enough. But to describe it briefly, it was a long time, long enough for her to break friendships she was desperately trying to maintain and for an Altemion rank 6 mage to join the royal army and advance to deputy commander of a corps.
Rattle.
Raven approached the window and opened it wide. A cold winter breeze silently entered.
¡Shaaaa!
He remembered the last images of his comrades in his memory: the barbarian warrior Ainar Fenelin, Abman, normally unreliable but trustworthy when it mattered, and even Missha.
It's been over half a year since I last saw them...
The comrade he met most recently was Abman. Even that was more than half a year ago and their conversation was not as friendly as before. They met by chance on the sixth floor and talked about what they were doing before awkwardly parting ways. Well, she saw Erwen two months ago, but she couldn't call her comrade anymore. They just made eye contact and didn't even say hello.
Still, it seems that Mr. Abman and Miss Ainar are fine...
Thinking of his old comrades, he closed his eyes silently. Suddenly he remembered the most painful point.
«Missha Missha...»
He wondered where and how he would live now. Raven extended her hand towards the open window. He picked up the snowflakes falling in the palm of his hand and remembered the last conversation he had with Missha.
«There is something I have to tell you...»
It was about two years and four months ago, at the end of that summer.
***
Intuition, what explorers jokingly called the sixth sense, was surprisingly useful in life. Although there was no clear information or basis, bowing due to a sinister feeling and a claw passing over his head was a common story in this industry.
Hit!
But this was not an innate sense. The more experience you had and the greater your intelligence, the more likely your intuition was correct. Intuition was the result of a combination of information accumulated like grains of sand in the subconscious. The difficult part was explaining how you arrived at that result. The basis clearly existed in the subconscious.
«Something to tell me...?» Raven ignored the sinister feeling and responded with a question. After all, nothing had been confirmed yet. It was common for intuition to end simply as an error in judgment. No, if one had to argue, it was much rarer for him to actually reciprocate.
«Yes... I have something to tell youee... I mean, tell you...»
«One, you speak…»
«Ah, this...? I'm going to try to change it. I can't be like this forever...»
«Oh... really? You thought well. T-is that good? I will encourage you».
At first glance, Missha's change was a positive thing. Raven was aware of Missha's circumstances to some extent. Apparently he had damaged his tongue in the past and although the scar healed over time, it ended up due to a psychological problem. Yes, that would have been the case.
Hit!
But why was his heart beating faster? It was making her more anxious. «... So what did you have to tell me?»
«Well, actually...» Missha fell silent and looked away before making a decision and starting off with difficulty. «I want to leave the team».
It was a declaration of withdrawal. Raven didn't ask about why. For starters, it wasn't a big surprise. «See...»
To be honest, she thought it would end like this. No matter who joined his clan, no one could fill the void left by that barbarian. Exploration of the maze was suspended indefinitely and it was only natural that the team would eventually disband.
«Alright. If you think that's for the best, there's nothing I can say about it». She didn't care that the team dissolved. What mattered was their friendship. Just because they didn't enter the maze together didn't mean their friendship had to end there. «So what do you plan to do from now on?»
«First I'm going back to my family».
«Oh, if you're planning to take a break without a plan, I agree—»
«And then I'm going to enter the maze. No... I will enter the maze».
«... Sorry?» Raven couldn't understand. She said she was going to leave the team, but enter the maze? The back of his neck tingled. «Labyrinth? With whom? Have you found a new team yet?» Raven felt an inexplicable sense of betrayal and asked questions.
But Missha did not answer them. She just changed the subject with a somewhat sad voice. «Before that, that's not all I have to say...»
At those words, Raven felt the sinister feeling that had barely calmed down intensify again. Was that because? His voice, which had risen with emotion, calmed down. «...Forward.» Maybe because his head had cooled, his voice also sounded a little icy.
Missha continued to avoid his eyes and ended up fixing her gaze on the ground. She spoke in a very calm voice. «You know, soon... there will be rumors that Bjorn is an evil spirit...»
«... Sorry?»
«Ah! I-it's just a rumor! N-don't believe what people say! I-I just wanted to tell you that...»
What the hell is Missha talking about? Have you lost your mind as a result of Mr. Yandel's death?
As Raven wondered if they were having a normal conversation at the time, on the other hand, she began to think this. This was an intuition, the sixth sense that reached truth before rational thought. «So you're saying you're going to spread those rumors. Although I don't know why you would do that».
Instead of responding, Missha shuffled back.
«That's why you came to let me know in advance. Because you don't want us to remember Mr. Yandel as an evil spirit». Raven took a step forward. «But do you know something?» He had already realized the identity of this sinister feeling that had been eating away at his body since before. «You said there will be rumors that Mr. Yandel is an evil spirit... It's not just a rumor, is it?» Raven grabbed Missha's wrist and asked.
It was an unusual error in judgment for her because there was no way a mage could stop a physical-type scout with force.
«... Wow!» Missha let go of her hand and ran away, and the next day, rumors that Bjorn Yandel was an evil spirit spread throughout the city.
«Where the hell did he disappear...?»
She makes Missha's last.