Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I had only shown interest for a very brief moment, yet research assignments were being added this promptly. Of course, if asked whether that had ever not been the case, I had nothing in particular to say, but still, while I was already busy enough to die chasing Edelred and collecting the animals and plants contaminated because of him, adding another research assignment on top of that was too much, was it not?

Research assignments would not keep being added like this, would they? Feeling as if the area beneath my eyes was turning black just from the thought - though it was already black enough - I looked toward Edelred with a complicated heart. Perhaps because of the grotesque creatures that kept attacking him, he could not easily move forward and was only swinging his aura.

I had not intended it in particular, but...... could I count this as having kept Edelred from escaping, at any rate? Since he seemed unable to pay any attention to me because of the grotesque creatures, I should use this chance to capture him. Immediately after making that judgment, I quickly deployed capture magic and attacked Edelred.

“......!”

Like a cast net thrown by a fisherman, a purple aurora spread over Edelred’s head. Edelred realized what was happening, flinched, and cut down the aurora along with the grotesque creatures. The severed aurora transformed into a shape resembling ropes and attacked again, trying to bind Edelred.

Just as the aura shining dark green was about to cut them down, Edelred suddenly stopped short and withdrew his aura. Wondering what was going on, I examined him closely and only then realized that the area around Edelred’s right leg was rippling strangely. At a guess, it seemed to be an error caused by overlapping causal relationships.

If it was serious enough to make him stop resisting, it must be quite a severe error. Along with my brief impression, the purple net wrapped tightly around him.

***

“Hmm, this is...... Ah, was it a tree? The species of tree was...... I think it was in the cypress family, but what was it again? Ah, right. It was juniper. And...... the collection point was.......”

Good grief, even classifying these takes quite a bit of time. But if I do it carelessly, the restoration work will become annoying later, so I cannot just muddle through it either.

It looked like I would have to work through the night for several days again. Feeling tired already, I began mass-producing coffee in preparation for the all-night work. With a familiar gesture, I deployed a preservation formula and began roasting the raw coffee beans I took out from within it. The distinctive rich fragrance spread in every direction on the heat. As I ground the perfectly roasted beans and savored that aroma for a moment, a puzzled thought suddenly came to me, and I glanced to the side without realizing it. Edelred was there, bound tightly by binding magic and floating in the air.

That bastard, for some reason, has been staying still without resisting once since I captured him. No matter that I placed binding magic on him, is a swordmaster really supposed to remain this quiet after being caught? Did he not have something he urgently needed to confirm?

Since I could not understand it at all, I quietly moved only my eyes and checked Edelred’s condition. My worry that he might be staring at me was put to shame, because his gaze was directed not at me, but somewhere on the ground. Rather than looking at anything in particular, he seemed to be blankly lost in thought.

What is he thinking so hard about? Is he making some plan to escape in secret? No, his expression is strange for that. Should I say he looks like someone prepared for the end? Judging by how he is even biting his lip and sweating cold sweat, he seems to be suffering from extreme pain.

Well, that was only natural. Whether it was because of the error earlier or not, Edelred’s right leg was repeatedly falling off and reattaching itself with a strange ripple. Apparently, he had been groaning like that all this time because of the pain caused by it.

Still, he is enduring that well. Normally, someone would have gone into shock long ago. Is it because he is a swordmaster? In any case, it is rather impressive.

If a third party heard this, they might think of me as a cruel mage without blood or tears, but in truth, I was trying somehow to keep Edelred alive. I had no time to rest because I was analyzing the error occurring in his right leg while correcting and isolating the contamination derived from that error in real time.

Wow, keeping on correcting it in real time is so tiring I could die. I wish the error would at least calm down a little, but it shows no sign of settling at all.

That said, I could not keep correcting it indefinitely in this state. The fact that I might collapse from exhaustion was a problem, but it was also impossible to know how long Edelred could endure that pain.

The problem was...... no matter how I thought about it, fully correcting this damned error seemed impossible for now. The fundamental cause of the error was the overlapping causal relationships created when Edelred regressed from the future to the present, but I did not have the information values necessary to correct that. Honestly, how would I know where this bastard went and what he did until he became an old man in his seventies? I was not some fortune-teller.

Therefore, there were exactly two things I could do now. Either completely delete Edelred’s very existence and make it “something that never existed,” or create a special subspace and isolate Edelred’s overlapping causal relationships together with his right leg.

“There are roughly those two methods. What do you want to do?”

“......You are giving me a choice?”

His reaction was so surprised that I somehow felt awkward. Was it really something to react to like that? I had simply said I would reflect the opinion of the person involved, since his life was on the line.

Ah, of course...... there was no option like simply letting him go. If I did that, the contamination would spread and disturb the order of the world.

At my explanation, Edelred made a strange expression.

“Indeed...... it is different. So it is someone else after all.......”

“Huh? What is?”

“No....... It is nothing.”

What did he mean, nothing? I opened my eyes coldly and tried to question him, but Edelred merely closed his eyes calmly.

“If I have no choice but to become a seed of great disaster, then regrettable though it is, there is nothing to be done. Erase me.”

“Uh......?”

“By nature, the principle is to dispose of an on sight. I cannot make an exception to the principle just because it concerns me.”

I didn’t really understand what he was talking about...... but he was saying exactly the sort of old-fashioned thing a long-serving old knight from the kingdom’s army would say. He had claimed he was a wanderer drifting aimlessly and looking around the world, but far from being a free spirit, this bastard was just a rigid swordsman bound by principles and rules.

Surely he was not doing this because he had some ulterior motive....... Narrowing my eyes at the suspicion that crept up inside me, I examined him, but Edelred merely gestured with his eyes, telling me to hurry and dispose of him. As I hesitated, wondering if he was truly serious, Edelred added one sentence.

“However, may I ask one favor? In my place...... I would like you to help someone.”

Of course. I knew there would be something. With a sigh, I snapped a warning-like remark at Edelred.

“I’ll say this in advance. I won’t do anything that could change the future.”

“But you have already done something that could change the future. You found me and took me to some Magic Tower. Moreover, you are now trying to erase me, an . None of this was originally supposed to happen.”

Of course, that was true. But that much was fine. The system of countless formulas that composed the world would not be disturbed by something of this degree. That was only natural, since every entity that existed in the world interacted in real time and created one massive flow. That was the order of the world.

To compare it to something...... suppose people are lined up in a rye field to harvest. At that time, what tools they use and how carefully they pick up each grain will differ according to each individual’s nature and choice, but the massive flow called “harvesting” does not change.

But what happens if one of them suddenly goes mad and starts cutting down the people around them with a sickle? Naturally, the massive flow called “harvesting” is severed. Because of that one madman, the others would fall into chaos, being cut down by the sickle, fleeing in terror, or fighting that one person.

However, if that one madman is quickly removed, the “harvesting” will continue without the flow being severed. Because the others will no longer die, run away, or fight because of that one person. Even though one person has disappeared, the massive flow called “harvesting” continues unchanged.

“So deleting one person like you won’t endanger the world. There will be slight differences in the details, but from a worldwide perspective, the flow won’t change greatly.”

“I see....... It seems I overestimated myself too much.”

Answering that, Edelred quietly muttered, “That is something of a relief.” I did not know what was a relief, but watching him look so completely resigned made me begin feeling strange.

This is odd. Why is he giving up so easily? Is it really all right to delete him? No, more importantly...... did I not clearly say there was one more method besides complete deletion? Why is he acting as if I gave him only one choice?

Ah...... come to think of it, Master had once said this about the kind of people known as swordsmen.

-It is truly difficult for us mages to understand, but those known as swordsmen are serious one-track minds to an almost extreme degree. Rather than leaving multiple possibilities open and examining them slowly like we do, they prefer to assume only one worst-case scenario and immediately respond to it. Of course, that may work in urgent times such as wartime...... but in ordinary times, they merely feel like frustrating blockheads.

......So is that why this bastard is being extreme too? Because even if he is a free spirit wandering around without affiliation, he is still, unavoidably, a swordsman?

Did that mean this bastard also had the nagging personality of the swordsmen Master had experienced? Saying things like, “Why are you so bad at organizing?” and telling me to throw away useless things - things that, from a mage’s point of view, might have some use someday - at the proper time instead of piling them up, or to fold clothes neatly with every edge aligned, or to organize books systematically by size and type and place them on the bookshelf instead of leaving them scattered across the floor, or to wash used cups right away instead of piling them up on the desk.......

Wow, just imagining it is unbelievably exhausting. As my shoulders drooped from the impulse to lie down at once, I suddenly heard Edelred muttering something to himself.

“I do not mind disappearing. However...... I cannot help worrying about the future of my younger sibling. That child lost our parents early, and I am the only blood relative they have to rely on...... An orphan with no kin...... How will that child survive this harsh world without me......?”

“Uh......?”