I came from the future.
That was what the old man said.
Honestly, I had no idea what he meant.
It was true that the old man bore a resemblance to me.
"From the future… You mean you're me, from the future?"
"That's right. I'm you, roughly fifty years from now."
The old man stated it plainly.
Being told something like that out of the blue, I had no idea whether I should believe it.
But this man knew my name.
And further speaking, I had been reincarnated into this world with my memories intact.
So the idea that time travel could happen didn't feel entirely impossible.
"Sorry, but I don't have time to explain the theory of past-transference magic to you."
"You don't have time to explain…"
"I know it sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie, but I really don't have time. Just listen."
He said "Hollywood movie" with perfect fluency.
Which meant this old man definitely had a connection to my previous life.
…Was he really me?
Those sharp, glinting eyes.
Deep in his pupils lurked something dark.
To put it plainly, these were the eyes of someone who killed people on a daily basis.
Cold eyes that regarded a human life as utterly worthless.
Was I going to become like this in the future?
No way.
It was hard to believe, but the old man's expression was dead serious.
Alright then. Hypothetically, I'd hear him out as this old man claiming to be me from fifty years in the future.
"There's nothing in the basement."
The old man murmured that.
"I go down to the basement and find nothing. Then later, Hitogami tells me 'It's fine if there was nothing,' and I feel relieved."
The old man grimaced with displeasure.
"But that was a mistake. I can explain it now."
He pressed a finger to his forehead, as if recalling something.
His left index finger.
Hm?
He has an arm?
"Listen. Most likely, there's a rat in the basement.
A sick rat.
It should have teeth that look like purple magic-stone crystals.
I don't know where that rat came from or when it got in.
It probably hitched a ride in some luggage, having come from the Demon Continent or the Flying Castle. That part doesn't matter."
The old man opened his hand, then clenched it tight.
"The rat gets startled by you and runs off. Into the kitchen, where it scavenges leftover food. The next day it dies, and Aisha disposes of it."
"…"
"Those leftovers get distributed to stray cats by Aisha's hands the next day, and they disappear."
His left arm wasn't a prosthetic.
Was this really me?
Or had I cured it with proper healing magic in the fifty years to come?
"But before that, Roxy, with her slightly peckish appetite, comes downstairs and picks at those leftovers. As a result, she catches the disease the rat was carrying."
"Roxy catches a disease?"
The mention of Roxy's name sharpened my focus on the old man's words.
"It's magic-stone disease."
Magic-stone disease.
I felt like I'd heard of it somewhere before.
Right. It was a disease that could supposedly only be cured by divine-class detoxification magic.
A terrible illness in which the body gradually petrifies into magic stone.
"At first, you don't notice. After all, magic-stone disease is extremely rare. That pathogen can only infect another life living inside the body."
"Another life?"
"That's right. A fetus. The disease can only infect pregnant women. I only discovered this later through my own research, and I was stunned."
"What? But Roxy isn't…"
"She should be pregnant by now. But that's fine—she's doing what she ought to, right? It's only natural."
Roxy, pregnant.
Somehow, I should have been overjoyed, but with this explanation it felt anything but.
"Magic-stone disease uses rats as carriers. For some reason, certain rats are resistant. You can spot a carrier at a glance—their teeth are crystallized into purple. The pathogen attaches to whatever the rat gnaws on. It's purely oral infection, and the pathogen doesn't survive long. It dies within half a day or so, and its infectiousness is weak—the only ones who can catch it are fetuses inside pregnant women."
"…"
"The pathogen grows inside the fetus, reshapes it, and petrifies the mother's body."
…Roxy would catch that disease?
"If, from this point on, you go down to the basement without thinking and let the rat out, the next day you'll hear Aisha complain, 'I found a weird rat corpse this morning.' About two weeks later, you'll learn that 'a cat infected with magic-stone disease has been discovered.' Shortly after that, Roxy develops a fever. And the connection between all of it—you won't make it for another thirty years."
"…What happens to Roxy?"
"She dies."
That merciless single sentence left me speechless.
"Roxy develops a fever and becomes bedridden. Once crystallization begins at her fingertips, you realize it's magic-stone disease…"
"Couldn't you cure it? Didn't you try?"
The old man looked sorrowful and lowered his head.
"I went all the way to the Millis Holy Kingdom, and I managed to obtain the chanting for divine-class detoxification magic. But various things happened along the way, and it took too long. By the time I returned, it was already too late—Roxy's body had half petrified, and she was dead."
But he quickly raised his head and fixed me with an intense, piercing gaze.
"Don't be deceived by the Human God's words.
With your knowledge from your previous life, you should understand.
He is the root of all evil—the final boss."
"But why would he target Roxy specifically?"
"I don't know. I still don't. But he was definitely acting with some kind of purpose. He said it himself in the end… 'Because of your stupidity, everything went just as I planned.' …Damn it."
Hitogami had said that himself?
But wait…
"…As for Hitogami's goal, Orsted or Laplace might know something. But in my fifty years, I never met either of them. You probably won't be able to find them either, even if you search."
"Didn't Nanahoshi know where Orsted was?"
At the mention of Nanahoshi's name, the old man looked pained.
She didn't know?
Or was Nanahoshi also…
"I never got to ask her, but in this era, it might actually be worth asking. Even if she doesn't know Orsted's location, she seems to think about these kinds of things, and she might have some useful ideas."
"…What happened to Nanahoshi?"
"…………"
The old man didn't answer.
He just looked sad.
But after a moment, he murmured:
"She fails at the very last moment. She falls into despair, and I fail to catch her, and then…"
Nanahoshi couldn't go back.
And in her despair, she perhaps…
"Got it. You don't have to say more."
"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it either."
The old man raised his head and seemed to collect himself before continuing.
"Listen. In about ten years, you'll learn this on your own…
The Human God
is not called 'Hitogami' in this world."
"…What do you mean?"
"It's written 'Jinshin'—God of Man. Everyone knows the name Jinshin, but only those who've actually met him know the word 'Hitogami.' I don't know what he's playing at, but he's probably just toying with the people who know."
…That makes sense.
No wonder he overreacted to the word "Hitogami."
It was a name only known to those who'd met him and been deceived.
"He only ever said things that seemed like they'd benefit me."
The old man clenched his fist again.
His eyes burned with nothing but pure loathing.
An extraordinary killing intent poured off him, yet strangely, I didn't feel afraid.
"Up until this very moment, he never told a lie—none that I could detect."
His fist trembled violently.
Something crackled around it.
Purple lightning-like sparks crackled and clung to his knuckles.
"All of it—every single thing—was for this one moment, when you, suspicious as you are, would follow without the slightest hesitation!"
I braced myself, dazed by the scattering sparks.
"Don't be deceived! You've read manga, right? Anyone who talks about 'believing' or 'not believing' is always lying!"
"Well, yeah, I know…"
The old man spoke in a strained, squeezed-out voice.
"You don't understand.
After Roxy, Sylphie is next.
Losing Roxy and drowning in grief, you'll be unable to think about Sylphie for a while.
Sylphie grows hurt and falls into depression.
And that's when he moves—through Luke."
"Through Luke?"
"Right. Later, you'll hear from the woman who was dating Luke at the time that 'Luke suddenly started panicking one morning, saying he'd received a divine revelation.'"
"And then what happens?"
"Luke advises Ariel, Sylphie leaves you, and she goes to the Asura Kingdom.
Together with Ariel, who failed to win over Pergius!
Ariel, desperate in a losing position, stages a coup—and loses.
Sylphie dies in battle."
Dies in battle…
She dies?
"You lose both of them."
The old man shook his head and ground his teeth.
"Ah, the sound of that guy's voice at the reveal still rings in my ears. The feel of him patting my shoulder saying 'Good effort,' that high-pitched laughter… You bastard, damn you!!"
The old man slammed his fist on the desk.
In that instant, purple lightning scattered outward, flooding the room with brightness like midday.
The light faded quickly, but a scorch mark remained on the desk.
The old man let out a long breath.
"I'll say it again—don't trust him. You'll regret it."
After saying that, the old man suddenly clutched his stomach.
Looking closer, his complexion had grown noticeably worse than before.
"I'm running out of time…
But even if I say that, you probably don't know what to do."
The old man's face was ashen.
Dark purple circles hung under his eyes.
He drew a deep, labored breath.
It felt like he could die at any moment.
Was he suffering from some illness?
"First things first—Eris."
At the mention of Eris, I felt my eyebrows knit together.
"I want you to write her a letter right away.
Tell her, even though she stepped out on you a little, you still love her."
"I don't love her. She made me impotent, for crying out loud."
"Forgive her. That's what a real man does, isn't it?"
"…"
The old man laughed self-deprecatingly.
"Though, I couldn't forgive her, and we ended up fighting for years."
"Fighting?"
"I was nearly killed by Eris over and over. She chased me everywhere, and every time we met, it was an all-out battle. But she was holding back, you know. If she'd truly wanted to, there were countless ways to kill me. She never attacked when she had a real chance. And when I got into trouble with other things, she'd help from the shadows. She was like… Beji○ta or something."
Beji○ta…
"Of course, she's not the prince of Vegetable Kingdom.
Eris just wanted to be by my side.
She'd been in love with me this whole time.
She loved me and worked her hardest for me…
But she was bad at expressing herself, didn't know what to do, so in the end all she could do was punch me."
Even if you tell me that…
I have a wife and children.
Sure, there was a time I was fond of Eris.
But that was… in the past.
"But I have Sylphie and Roxy…"
"That's no problem. Sylphie is tolerant when it comes to that, and
Roxy doesn't think she's good enough for me, so she'll accept it.
Eris too—if you explain everything beforehand, she'll understand.
Ah, but be prepared to get punched. That's just the kind of woman she is."
"But even so…"
"You surround yourself with women who love you. What's wrong with that? It's what a man should do."
"Easy for you to say when it's not your problem."
"I'm saying it because I have no one left by my side."
There was a strange weight to the old man's words.
Still…
"I have responsibilities to Sylphie and Roxy…"
"If you're talking about responsibility, you have a responsibility to Eris too.
She fought for you all that time.
She was terrible at communicating—that's all—but she tried her hardest the entire time.
If you don't take responsibility, what was all her effort for?
…That's what Ghislaine will tell you. In front of Eris's corpse."
Eris's corpse?
"Eris dies too?"
"Yeah. She died protecting me. That was, I think… when I fought Atrof again. The Demon Lord at full power was stronger than expected, and I let my guard down."
The old man said this with nostalgic fondness, the corner of his mouth twisting.
You could let your guard down against Atrof? Just how strong was my future self?
I was starting to seriously doubt whether he was really me.
"Listen. You absolutely have to send that letter. If you don't want to regret it… Right now, there's still just barely enough time."
"A-Ah, well, if you say so, I'll send it. But where?"
"The Sword Sanctum. You've probably suspected as much."
The Sword Sanctum.
Not too far from Sharera.
So that was where he'd trained.
Sword training… huh.
"Got it."
"Don't write anything that pushes her away. If Eris falls into despair, she'll kill you."
"I know."
I thought I knew what kind of person Eris was.
…At least, I thought I did.
If what this old man said was true.
She hadn't abandoned me—I just couldn't tell.
Thinking back on it, a woman that bad at expressing herself couldn't possibly have written a good letter.
And so they'd drifted apart, breeding misfortune.
"Phew."
The old man exhaled a heavy breath.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he raised his head.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention something important—don't oppose the Human God."
"Don't oppose him? He's been deceiving me!"
"Right. But you can't beat the Human God.
I couldn't beat him.
I couldn't even reach where the Human God was."
The old man spoke with bitter frustration.
He couldn't reach where the Human God was.
So that place really was somewhere in this world?
"When I found that out, I was shattered.
I couldn't even avenge Roxy or Sylphie.
I worked so hard to defeat him, and I couldn't even reach him.
I'd even learned to manipulate gravity, but he was beyond the range of my reach."
As he spoke, the old man pointed at the inkwell on the desk.
The inkwell floated gently into the air, then dropped with a soft thud.
A splash of ink splattered across the desk.
"I can float in midair. I can communicate with people far away. I can even regrow limbs. I'd even learned to leap through time to the past… Well, that spell was a failure, though."
A failure?
What failed?
This man was here, in this room, right now.
"You've probably noticed by now, but the magic of this world is omnipotent. Once you realize that, you can do pretty much anything."
As he said this, the old man raised his left hand.
Despite the boastful gesture, his complexion had gone beyond ashen to deathly white.
Dark, bruise-like circles shadowed his eyes, and his lips had turned blue.
"But none of this power means anything anymore.
It's too late.
By the time I became strong, there was no one left I wanted to protect."
His eyes still glinted, but they'd lost all strength.
His breathing was harsh and shallow.
"Listen. I'll say it one more time.
I hate the Human God.
But I can't beat him. There's no way.
I can't even reach him.
What's needed to reach where the Human God resides doesn't exist in my era.
So don't fight him.
I don't know what his goal is, but even if it means bowing and scraping, don't oppose him.
You'll only get crushed.
If that's the case, then while everyone is still alive…"
The old man's hand suddenly went limp and dropped.
His chin tilted upward, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"There are three things you need to do.
Consult with Nanahoshi.
Send a letter to Eris.
Distrust the Human God, but don't oppose him. That is all."
"…"
I couldn't respond.
Being told all of this out of the blue, I couldn't find words.
But I could sense, at least vaguely, that the old man was desperately trying to convey something to me.
"I-Is there… any more concrete advice?"
"Nostalgic, hearing that. Right, back then I really was a soft touch… Well, naturally, I'd like to teach you all the finer details in depth, but… time's up."
"What do you mean 'time's up'? You keep saying there's no time—does a late-night anime start soon or something?"
"No… it's ending. And don't rely on others so much. When you first came to this world, you didn't just lean on everyone else all the time…"
The old man looked at me as though he were gazing at a grandchild.
Now that he mentioned it, I suppose I had been depending on people a lot lately.
"Besides… by coming here like this, the timeline should have changed. Even if I tell you something now, it may not happen the same way. And since past-transference happened in this form, the history I walked will not change…"
The next moment.
The old man's eyes went unfocused, losing their sharpness.
Both hands hung limply, his chin raised, gasping in pain.
"You… will live a different life from mine. You'll continue as before—succeed, fail, reflect, and regret."
The old man shifted and fell from his chair.
"Hey, are you okay?!"
I rushed over and caught him… and recoiled.
The old man's body was impossibly light for his sturdy appearance.
Maybe not even forty kilograms.
What was this? What was going on?
"Just… because I came from the future… doesn't mean you can undo your mistakes…
This magic was a failure… there are no do-overs… in life…"
The old man's vacant gaze wandered as he reached with trembling hands inside his robe.
"I used the diary as an anchor point to jump… so I brought this… everything I experienced is written in it… Do your best… so you don't have regrets… Don't end up like me… Don't be laughed at by someone like him…"
With eyes still glinting through the tears welling in them, the old man pulled a thick, file-like object from the frayed pocket of his robe.
It was old and worn, yet I recognized it.
It was the diary I had just written moments ago.
The diary slipped from his hand before I could take it and thudded to the floor.
But my attention wasn't on that.
When he pulled out the diary, I'd caught a glimpse of the inside of the robe. It was… concave.
As if there were nothing beneath the clothing.
"What the hell… that body of yours…"
"Ha… incomplete… that's what it was… With my past-transference magic… I couldn't bring… my entire body…"
"Wait, but you said you could grow limbs and everything…"
"I'm out of mana now… Sorry… If only Cliff were alive, the past-transference could have gone more smoothly… Just a bit more… information… here…"
"…Sorry. You don't have to talk anymore."
"…Don't let regrets… the Human God's way… Why did I come all the way here… if I can't even say what needs to be said… At least one last look…"
The old man's eyes were no longer seeing anything.
His words lost meaning—only vague, drifting syllables spilled out.
The circles under his eyes had turned deathly dark, and his face wore the unmistakable expression of death.
Not someone about to die—this was already a dead man's face.
"Ah…"
But then, suddenly, his eyes refocused.
He looked past me, over my shoulder, at something behind me.
A trembling hand reached out in that direction.
"Aah, Sylphie, Roxy… damn it, you're still so beautiful, you know…"
A single tear rolled from the old man's eye—and the light vanished.
His body went limp, and his head dropped forward with a soft clunk.
…He was dead.
I turned around.
The door was still shut.
The commotion had been loud enough that I thought someone might have woken up…
What had the old man seen in his final moments?
Just as I thought that, I heard footsteps thudding down from the second floor.
"!"
I hurried out of the room.
There were Sylphie and Roxy, descending the stairs with staff and candle in hand.
"Rudeus, we heard voices and some noises. Is someone here?"
"Is it a burglar?"
They relaxed slightly at the sight of me, but their guards remained up.
Should I tell them about the old man?
……………No.
"No, sorry. I was sleepwalking a bit. Had a weird dream and cast some magic by accident. Looks like I woke you both up. Sorry."
"Sleepwalking from a dream and casting magic… We heard shouting too. Are you sure you're okay? Um, if you're feeling awful, we could sleep together? My grandmother always said nothing soothes pain like skin contact…"
"No, I'm good. Something might happen if we did that. And Sylphie, you're not fully recovered yet, right?"
I declined Sylphie's tempting offer, and Roxy made a troubled face.
"If it's really that bad, I don't mind, but… Actually, I might be in a certain condition lately, so if you could keep it to light touching at most…"
"No, really, I'm fine tonight."
Roxy's words reminded me of what the old man had said.
He said Roxy was pregnant.
Was that what she meant by "a certain condition"?
"…I'm really okay. Both of you go back to your rooms.
I'll clean up the study and then go to bed."
"If you say so, Rudeus… But if something's wrong, please tell us."
"As fellow wives, we won't hold back. Good night, then."
Sylphie and Roxy went upstairs, still looking worried.
Once I was sure they were gone, I turned back toward the study.
First, I needed to verify the old man's words.
I didn't know who he really was.
Whether he truly was me from the future, or something else entirely.
He had risked death to come here.
His story had a certain credibility, yet it was so sudden that full belief was impossible.
"…"
But one thing I felt.
I didn't want to lose those two.
And I didn't want to die filled with regret like the old man.
---
After that.
I sent the two back to the bedroom and ordered them strictly not to leave the room tonight.
I went around all the family rooms on the second floor and locked them from the outside with earth magic.
I checked every room on the first floor to confirm no one was there.
Then I returned to the study and stripped the old man of his belongings.
"…!"
His body had no abdomen.
Below the ribcage, there was a gaping hole—only bone and skin remained.
He was missing nearly all his internal organs.
But apart from the missing midsection, it was an impressive body.
Muscular for someone in his late sixties, covered in the scars of countless battles.
A scar across his chest that looked almost welded on. His moles were in exactly the same positions as mine.
As far as I could tell, body-wise, he was me.
If there was a difference, it was the left arm.
He'd said he'd grown it himself… Perhaps his healing magic was quite skilled.
The old man carried nothing besides the diary.
No ornaments, no staff.
Beneath the robe were only a shirt, pants, and undergarments.
Nothing in the robe's pockets, nothing in his pants pockets either.
If it were me, and Sylphie or Roxy died, I imagined I'd carry some keepsake at least.
But fifty years…
Perhaps he'd lost them all.
I gathered everything into a corner of the room and wrapped the old man in a blanket that had been lying nearby.
Carrying the body, I headed for the back door in the kitchen.
"…"
The kitchen had a plate of last night's leftovers on the counter.
This was what the rat would eat, apparently.
If so, I should dispose of it.
I went out through the back gate and made my way to a vacant lot nearby.
I dug a hole, placed the old man's body inside, and set it alight.
The magical fire scorched the old man to ash in moments.
The acrid stench of burning human flesh filled the air.
The smell of my own corpse.
"Ugh…"
The thought made me nauseous, and I threw up at the corner of the lot.
After the body had burned, I used magic to create an urn and collected the old man's bones.
I'd bury these bones in the same place as Paul's.
If this old man really was me, that would make him the happiest.
After picking the bones clean, I covered the hole and returned home.
I entered through the back door and headed straight for the study.
I placed the bone urn beside his belongings and picked up my staff.
My destination: the basement.
The魔眼—my magic eyes—were already active.
The old man had told me not to go.
A rat would come out, scavenge the leftovers, and the fetus inside Roxy would catch the disease the rat carried.
So I had to verify.
Whether a rat truly existed.
Without doing so, I couldn't trust the old man.
And if it truly was there, I couldn't just leave it.
"…"
The stairs down to the basement were dark.
I pulled a light-spirit scroll from my pocket and illuminated the surroundings.
Descending the stairs, I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the door.
"…Hm?"
There, in the corner of the staircase.
Amid a thin layer of dust, I spotted something that caught my attention.
Footprints.
Rat footprints.
The prints led into the basement—there were none coming out.
I did not open the basement door.
Instead, I punched a fist-sized hole near the center of the door with magic and thrust my staff through.
I channeled mana into the staff.
The image: ice. The range: the entire room.
The basement stored magic-enchanted items and the fertilizer Aisha used for her vegetable garden, but I had no intention of sparing any of it.
"…Frost Nova."
I whispered it, and in an instant, the room froze.
Just to be sure.
"Frost Nova."
I spread the cold air to every corner of the room.
I peered through the hole with light-spirit illumination to confirm everything inside was completely frozen.
I opened the door.
Pushing through the frozen panel, I slipped inside and shut it behind me.
"…"
The rat was easy to find.
Near the hidden door to the household shrine, frozen solid white, dead.
Half-open jaws revealed teeth that glowed translucent purple.
They looked exactly like magic-stone crystals.
I carefully searched every corner for a second rat, then used earth magic to create a box, picked up the frozen corpse with a stick, placed it inside, and sealed it completely.
Should this corpse be incinerated?
Or should I hand it over to the Magic Guild for research?
The latter, I decided.
If I reported it together with the old man's information about magic-stone disease, it would be a way to verify whether any of it was true.
Though whether a pathogen could even be extracted from a frozen corpse, I had no idea.
I left the basement, locked the door, and sealed the hole I'd made.
Magic-stone disease supposedly didn't spread through the air and had weak infectiousness, but who knew what might happen.
For the time being, this basement would remain sealed shut.
I returned to the study.
I felt wide awake—there was no chance I could sleep.
What should I do first?
What could I do right now?
Should I read this ancient diary?
If I read it, I might learn what was coming.
But he'd said history would change.
In gaming terms, this was a different world line.
A world altered by my future self's arrival.
Even if I read this diary as a preview, there was a high probability that the same events wouldn't play out.
I glanced at the inkwell and the black stain on the desk.
The mark left by the old mana-laden fist.
I recalled the three things the old man had said.
Among them, there was something I could do right now.
I sat down in the chair.
"…"
First, I would write the letter to Eris.
Chapter 15: Youth Arc — Summoning Arc — End
Next Chapter
Chapter 16: Youth Arc — Human God Arc