My ears felt muffled, as if I were submerged deep underwater. The piercing screams of the Strange Entities echoed from a distance.
Even though this was the second time I was experiencing this, it felt so vivid that it could have been reality rather than a memory.
‘…It was like this.’
At that time, I felt these emotions and this pain. I thought I hadn’t forgotten, but I was wrong.
Regarda had forgotten.
The pain and despair of losing Aerial.
The rage toward himself for failing to protect her.
He thought he would never forget, but what was the reality now that he had returned? He was in even more despair and felt more rage than he remembered.
And yet, nothing changed.
In the end, he was defeated once more. He was simply waiting for death, lying battered and broken in front of the Dragon’s Temple.
Perhaps it was because his mind knew this was just a scene from a memory, but he could observe the situation a bit more coldly than before.
For instance, the magical occurrence where the Strange Entity greedily devouring his body suddenly evaporated into nothingness.
Or the figure that appeared among them like a ghost.
“Regarda Ovierre.”
The empty expression of the man as he slowly approached.
The gloomy tone.
“I finally found you.”
With those words, the world flickered out for a moment. Whether he had died at that moment or simply fainted, he couldn’t tell.
“Are you awake?”
***
After a brief blackout, the scene in the memory continued. Some time had passed.
“……Kreutzvalt.”
“Oh, you know me.”
Kreutzvalt wore an expression of genuine surprise. In the original memory, there was no way Regarda would have recognized Kreutzvalt at a glance. Thus, this was a virtual reality based on the memory.
Kreutzvalt was smiling kindly, just as he did in the memory. He didn’t have the empty, gloomy expression from moments ago.
“You must be disoriented and your memories a bit confused. I barely managed to save you right before you died.”
“…”
“Strictly speaking, you are a sort of undead. But since it is a form of necromancy I developed myself, it is of an entirely different dimension. Can’t you feel it? The power newly settled within your flesh.”
At those words, Regarda lifted his arm and examined his body. It was his familiar physical form. In fact, since he had lived for 1,000 years in the body Kreutzvalt had given him, it was far more familiar than his original flesh.
“Heh heh…… I see. You must be very confused.”
When Regarda remained silent, Kreutzvalt smiled and stood up.
‘What had his past self said? How had he reacted?’ There was no way to remember such details. Thus, he spoke not as his past self, but as the current Regarda.
“Why did you save me?”
In the past, he likely hadn’t asked such a question. He would have simply been grateful for one more chance, trusting Kreutzvalt and vowing to protect Aerial no matter what. That was how he would have thought and acted.
At Regarda’s question, Kreutzvalt’s smile deepened.
“Why did I save you…… That is quite a profound question.”
He didn’t say it because it was truly profound. It was a roundabout way of asking why he was questioning something so obvious.
“When there is a dying man before me, is there any reason not to save him?”
“A person doesn’t say ‘I finally found you’ to someone like that.”
“I am a Necromancer. To be honest, there was the joy of testing a new type of necromancy. I apologize for that.”
“You also knew my name.”
“It isn’t a name known among commoners. However, I know it. The Dragon Knight, Regarda Ovierre.”
Every explanation was plausible. He didn’t hesitate in his answers, and it didn’t seem like he was lying. Even the emotions leaking from him were perfectly calm.
It was so natural that even after living for 1,000 years and returning to a scene from a millennium ago, one might not notice anything strange. Regarda might have just accepted it and moved on—if he hadn’t heard the truth about Kreutzvalt from the Magician.
“Fine, fine. To be even more honest, Regarda, I was indeed looking for you. There is something you must do.”
This was a virtual reality reconstructed from past memories, or perhaps another parallel world.
“Go to Arilleia. I have made all the preparations.”
Despite that, the story headed in the same direction.
“Wasn’t it your mission and your conviction to protect the dragon?”
Back then, Kreutzvalt had told him to go to Arilleia, and Regarda, thinking only of protecting the sealed Aerial, had followed without a word. But things were different now.
This was not reality. He knew now that no matter what he did, Aerial could never wake up again.
‘…That’s right.’
The other dragon he had to protect existed in reality. Her name was Freya.
“I have prepared everything in Arilleia.”
Therefore, he was no longer swayed by Kreutzvalt’s words. He forced himself to drag up an incredibly old memory. He barely managed to recall it.
“A sanctuary where the dragon can rest, a race that exists only for that purpose. If you go to Arilleia……”
“Abellar Pavlenko.”
It was a name he had long forgotten. The man who had been in charge of all the magical facilities in Arilleia and the Magician who had turned the surrounding sea into the Cursed Waters.
The reason he could recall the name Abellar Pavlenko and the memories of that time was likely because he was inside part of his memory. That was why he mentioned the name, cutting Kreutzvalt off as if to provoke him.
“Go find the Archmage, Abellar Pavlenko. Then everything will be resolved.”
“If you wait and wait, an opportunity will eventually come. I shall help you. Go to Arilleia and wait quietly.”
In his actual past, he had followed Kreutzvalt’s words to Arilleia, and the person he met there was Abellar Pavlenko. And he had indeed waited.
He hadn’t waited purely out of faith in Kreutzvalt’s words, but he hadn’t been without hope either. He had thought that Abellar could do something. He thought that just as Kreutzvalt had revived him, he would return Aerial to normal. It was true that he had harbored that sliver of hope.
“…”
“Is that what you wanted to say?”
But now he knew how hollow that dream was. He could also recognize that Kreutzvalt himself was a man made of contradictions and lies.
No, was he even human? A real human couldn’t show such constant, unchanging emotions without even a hint of agitation, even at this moment. It was as if he were deliberately selecting and displaying only specific emotions from the start.
“Hmm…… How strange. There is no way you could know Abellar.”
Kreutzvalt stroked his chin and looked around.
“Did you hear something from Aerial? That stiff-necked dragon wouldn’t have done that.”
His head began to turn faster and faster.
“In that case, did I underestimate you? No, that’s not it either.”
Then he suddenly stopped, smiling as if he had realized something. He nodded.
“I see.”
Even then, the flow of his emotions was eerily constant.
“This isn’t reality.”
Simultaneously, Kreutzvalt’s staff began to emit light. Regarda immediately reached out to grab his spear, but Kreutzvalt was one step faster.
“Tell me, which timeline’s Regarda are you?”
Dark eyes shimmering like the Abyssal Depths loomed right before Regarda’s face. The suddenly sharpened tip of the staff was aimed at the crown of his head.
This reaction was entirely unexpected. He had never imagined things would turn out like this.
“Kreutzvalt—just how much had he seen, and from where?”
“Which timeline, you ask…… Then I shall ask you instead.”
Regarda slowly, but surely, pulled up his Ideation from deep within his chest.
“Just how far into the future did you look?”
The dragon’s Ideation, which burst forth like an explosion, collided with Kreutzvalt’s magic. The impact created a light that swallowed the world.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the middle of the 71st Floor of the Abyss.
***
Time passed quickly after the day Abellar first met Kreutzvalt. In the meantime, Abellar had married a daughter of the prestigious Pavlenko Family and became a member of the clan.
It was like giving wings to the already peerless Abellar. It didn’t matter what political reasons were in the background. What mattered was that the Pavlenko name was added to Abellar’s talent.
Abellar’s skill and reputation.
The Pavlenko Family’s power and influence.
The two had merged. Abellar literally soared.
When he first met Kreutzvalt, he was a Magician who had achieved the 5th Circle in the shortest time, but he felt like someone who didn’t know the ways of the world and dreamed idle dreams because he was from the underground city. Because of that, he hadn’t settled into any one school and only focused on learning magic.
Now, 8 years later, he was the greatest Magician of the current era, a fact no one could dispute.
It was only natural, as it had taken him only 14 years from entering the world of magic to reach the 7th Circle. This was an unprecedented record even in the history of magic, and it was said he was already looking toward the next stage.
In recognition of his achievements, his position as the next Lord of the Magic Tower was as good as confirmed. Although he hadn’t taken over everything yet, he already had the authority to enter the top floor of the tower.
There was nothing to block Abellar’s path as he received the support of most Magicians and the Pavlenko Family.
Thus, exactly 14 years after being pulled out of the underground city, he reached the top floor of the Tower of Mages.
“This brings back memories.”
The 150th floor of the Tower of Mages.
With a bit of exaggeration, the Tower of Mages was so massive that each floor was said to be its own world. Its peak could truly be described as touching the heavens.
In a way, he had kept the promise he made to Len Hank.
“It brings back so many memories that I’m starting to yawn.”
However, Abellar’s expression upon achieving it didn’t change much. It made sense. There was no reason to be excited or happy about a natural result he already expected.
He had only harbored a small hope that there might be something different on the top floor of the tower. That hope had diminished significantly after seeing the previous Lord of the Magic Tower, but it had existed nonetheless.
The same went for the sky. He wondered if the sky seen from the top of the tower would be different. He wondered if it would be vastly different from the sky he viewed from the gutters. He thought that by then, he might even be able to grasp the sky in his hands.
But the sky he saw upon arrival was just the sky. It was still the sky, and it remained out of reach. The clouds were right next to him, but when he looked up, the sky was there again.
“…….How dull.”
As he stared at the sky through the window with empty eyes, a voice he had heard once before suddenly spoke from behind him.
“No.”
A gloomy, empty, and terribly forced voice he hadn’t heard for 8 years.
“It will not be dull at all.”
It was the second meeting between Kreutzvalt and Abellar.